Indiana house explosion suspects to get own trials

INDIANAPOLIS — An Indianapolis judge says three people charged in a deadly 2012 house explosion must stand trial separately.

WISH-TV reports Judge Sheila Carlisle on Friday denied prosecutors’ request to hold each trial at the same time in the same courtroom, but with three different juries.

Attorneys for Monserrate Shirley, Mark Leonard and Bob Leonard had opposed a single trial and said it would pose a greater risk of harm to the suspects.

Shirley and Mark Leonard used to be a couple, and the Leonards are brothers.

The defendants face dozens of charges including murder and arson for the explosion that killed Shirley’s next-door neighbors and damaged scores of homes in the Richmond Hill subdivision. All three have pleaded not guilty.

The trials are scheduled for June.