Appeal denied for Starke Co. man
Edward Blackburn serving 65-year sentence for fatally shooting Cord Colgrove in 2017
INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana Court of Appeals last Monday upheld an Arkansas man’s Starke County murder conviction.
Edward Blackburn, 33, of Little Rock, Ark., argued in his 29-page appeal filed in April that the jury hearing his murder case should have been given the option to find him guilty of involuntary manslaughter and pointing a firearm instead of murder in the shooting death of Cord Colgrove.
Starke Circuit Court Judge Kim Hall sentenced Blackburn to 65 years in prison following his murder conviction for killing 35-year-old Colgrove, of Knox, outside a home in the 1400 block of West 400 South near North Judson on March 3, 2017.
In his appeal, Blackburn argued the “court abused its discretion” by not instructing the jury about the possibility of finding Blackburn guilty of the lesser charges.
The appeal also argued that the court committed an “error of law or abused its discretion” in not granting Blackburn’s request for a continuance due to the “absence of witness Augusta Hadden, who was present at Colgrove’s death,” for the trial, according to the appeal.
Hadden, previously of North Judson, was initially charged with assisting a criminal, but the Starke County Prosecutor’s Office later dropped that count. Hadden left Indiana, according to the appeal, and the prosecutor’s office refused to give her immunity for possibly testifying at Blackburn’s trial.
On Monday, the Indiana Court of Appeals rejected Blackburn’s arguments.
“Blackburn argues that he fulfilled the requirements outlined (under state law) governing motions to continue due to the absence of a material witness and thus was entitled a continuance as a matter of right,” Justice Robert Altice writes in the appeals court’s opinion. “Like the trial court, we are not convinced. (State law) requires (the defendant) indicate the probability of procuring the witness’s testimony within a reasonable time, which Blackburn failed to do.
“As the trial court noted, Blackburn admits in his affidavit, ‘I do not have any other resources for locating Ms. Hadden at this time.’ He can only guess that she may be in Mobile, Alabama, a general location he initially proposed during a pretrial hearing
to discuss the defendant’s motion to compel immunity for Hadden from (the prosecutor’s office) on Oct. 19, 2017. This hearing took place nearly ten months before the trial, and Blackburn was unable to make any progress in finding Hadden in the intervening months, and admitted in his affidavit to not having any prospects to change this situation. As such, he failed to argue that Hadden would ever be located, let alone that her testimony would be procured within a reasonable time …
“Blackburn was not prejudiced by the denial of the motion to continue,” Altice continues. “While Hadden did not testify, cell phone records of texts exchanged between her and Blackburn and between her and Colgrove were admitted to support Blackburn’s claim that Colgrove was harassing Hadden and threatening him. Blackburn also took the stand to testify as to his side of events including the assertion that he was acting in self-defense when he shot Colgrove. While Blackburn claims Hadden’s testimony would have supported his, there’s no real way to know that it would have. In any event, since Blackburn testified, the jury was presented with his version of events in considering whether to convict him. Between Blackburn’s testimony and the admission of the phone records, the claimed substance of Hadden’s testimony reached the jury.”
The appeals court also rejected Blackburn’s argument that the jury should have been able to consider the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter.
“There is no evidence to corroborate Blackburn’s testimony that he intended the (gunshot) as a warning – he did not verbally warn Colgrove to stay away or even give Colgrove time to register that Blackburn had a gun before pulling the trigger,” Altice writes. “By most accounts, Colgrove stepped out of the car, raised his hands, said ‘What the (expletive), Gus?’ and was shot in the head. The instruction of involuntary manslaughter was not warranted.”
Altice also says that Blackburn told one of Hadden’s friends that he “had something for (Colgrove’s expletive)” while patting his handgun shows he had murderous intentions toward Colgrove.
“The jury had the opportunity to convicted Blackburn for reckless homicide or acquit him on the basis of self-defense but still chose to convict him of murder, a knowing and intentional killing,” Altice writes in the three-judge panel’s opinion.
Auburn attorneys Adam C. Squiller and John M. Haecker handled Blackburn’s appeal. Deputy Attorney General J.T. Whitehead handled the case for the state.
A jury deliberated for five hours following Blackburn’s seven-day jury trial in August 2018 before finding him guilty of fatally shooting Colgrove.
South Bend-based television station WBND previously reported Blackburn argued self-defense during the trial, claiming Colgrove was angry with him for dating Hadden, Colgrove’s ex-girlfriend.
Blackburn was arrested in Mishawaka the day after the slaying.
Hall found many aggravating factors when he sentenced Blackburn in November to spend 65 years in prison for killing Colgrove.
Blackburn is currently being held at the Miami Correctional Facility near Peru. His earliest possible release date is in December 2065.