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Johnson Co. Prosecutor: ‘You can’t build a wall’ to keep violent crime out

GREENWOOD, Ind. (WISH) — More than half of the violent crimes committed in Johnson County are coming from criminals outside the county, according to the prosecutor’s office. The area usually doesn’t see a large number of violent crimes. In 2015, there were fewer than 10 handed over to the prosecutor’s office. But, for loved ones, that’s one too many.

“The last time that I had seen him, when I was in Indiana, we had a very big talk about the fact that he was about ready to be a father. We hugged and kissed and all that kind of stuff, and told each other we loved each other,” said Cathy Allen.

Allen will never see her son, Doug Lane, again, and Lane will never get to meet his daughter. At just 20 years old, Lane was murdered at the Park Greenwood Apartments in Greenwood in August of 2015. Allen was hundreds of miles away at her home in South Carolina when she got the news.

“I was frantic. I was like, I got to get to Indiana. I just got to. I gotta figure out how I’m going to get there like right this minute,” she recalls.

Days after the murder, police arrested 30-year-old Marcus Hardy. They say Lane agreed to buy a pound of marijuana for $3,200. During an interrogation with a detective, Hardy admitted to setting up a fake drug deal.

“I knew he wanted to see the weed first. So, I opened the bag and that’s where I had the gun, and I cocked it in their face,” Hardy told police.

Hardy said he never had the pound of marijuana and that his plan was to just rob Lane and leave.

“I never had any intention to kill anybody,” he said.

But, according to Johnson County Prosecutor Brad Cooper, Hardy’s plan was much more sinister.

“He sees the money. He pulls the gun out and cocks it in their face, points to a gang symbol tattoo on his chest, demands the money and when the struggle ensues, gets the victim down on the victim’s knees and shoots him through the top of the head,” said Cooper.

Hardy was an Indianapolis resident at the time. He was found guilty of murder and armed robbery. Authorities gave him 65 years, the maximum sentence.

“The first time he commits a crime in Johnson County he’s convicted and gets the maximum sentence. For the first time ever, he received the max sentence,” said Cooper.

Cooper hopes this case will serve as a deterrent to keep criminals out of Johnson County.

“Our most violent criminals in Johnson County have come from other places, particularly the Indianapolis area,” he said.

Last year nearly 70 percent of the suspects involved in violent crimes in Johnson County came from outside the county.

In 2015 there were two unrelated murders committed. Both happened in Greenwood. The suspects were both from Indianapolis. There was one rape. It also happened in Greenwood. The suspect lived in Marion County. Altogether there were six robberies, some armed robberies. Three of those suspects were from Indianapolis and three lived in Greenwood.

“You can’t build a wall on the Johnson County line. But, what we can do is aggressively prosecute these cases and basically make examples out of them as a deterrent to anyone else that wants to come down here and do evil,” said Cooper.

And although it won’t bring back her son, Allen is grateful that she won’t have to worry about his killer for more than six decades.

“It gives him time to sit and think about what he did. I want him to be miserable until the day he dies, just like what he did to my family,” said Allen.

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