Prosecutor to pursue death penalty in shooting death of Lt. Aaron Allan
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Marion County Prosecutor Terry Curry will seek the death penalty against Jason Brown, 28, the suspect in the shooting death of Southport Lt. Aaron Allan.
Southport Police Chief Tom Vaughn was present for the Thursday morning announcement, standing next to Curry at the podium.
“We have the full confidence in the prosecutor’s office,” said Chief Vaughn, “and we support their decision.”
“We send the message that we will not tolerate in any way attacks upon our public safety officers,” said Curry.
Curry explained the aggravating circumstance, which is needed to convict Brown, is that Brown murdered Allan during Allan’s course of duty as a law enforcement officer.
The arrest affidavit for Brown describes how on July 27, Brown flipped his BMW on Madison Avenue and while hanging upside down, shot Allan 11 times as Allan responded to the crash scene. Curry also addressed one of the biggest questions in the case, saying his team still does not have a motive for Allan’s shooting death.
“It is obviously on its surface a very senseless act, and as of today, we simply do not know why this occurred,” Curry said. “We may never know. We continue to seek additional information that might shed light on that question, but as of today we do not know.”
Curry has sought the death penalty in two previous cases of a line of duty death and both times agreed to a plea deal of life without parole.
In 2012, Thomas Hardy, 61, received the sentence for the 2011 shooting death of IMPD Officer David Moore. Curry said that agreement was reached due to the wishes of the slain officer’s family.
The second sentencing in a case where Curry sought the death penalty occurred in April 2017, when Major Davis, 27, was sentenced to life without parole for the 2014 shooting death of Officer Perry Renn. Curry stated that a plea agreement was reached because of the difficulty in pursuing the death penalty due to Davis’ mental health issues.
“The fact that that’s how we resolved those two cases should not be read in any way that that is our intention here,” said Curry. “We have filed the request for a death penalty and intend to pursue it to conclusion.”
Jason Brown’s next court hearing is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 2 at 10 a.m., and his trial is tentatively scheduled for February 2018.
