NASHVILLE, Ind. (AP): A judge has rejected a request for a closed hearing on the criminal past of a man accused of killing an Indiana University student.
Brown County Circuit Court Judge Judith Stewart said Monday that she was denying Daniel Messel’s request but will review additional evidence before it is submitted to the case file and discussed at a public hearing.
Messel is charged with murder in the April slaying of 22-year-old IU student Hannah Wilson. Her body was found about 10 miles northwest of IU’s Bloomington campus.
The Herald-Times reports prosecutors want to introduce evidence of Messel’s criminal past, including violence against women, during his June murder trial.
Indiana trial rules bar the admission of a defendant’s criminal record unless prosecutors can prove a pattern or connection to the case at hand.
