The state Supreme Court has upheld the life sentence for a southwestern Indiana man in the shooting death of his ex-girlfriend’s father during an attack after she started dating another man.
The court’s unanimous decision released Tuesday rejected an appeal from Austin Blaize seeking a new trial over the 2013 killing of 47-year-old Terry Monier in Gibson County.
Blaize’s attorney argued he deserved a new trial over the judge’s comment to jurors about the complexity of tracking Blaize’s whereabouts using cellphone data.
The court ruled other evidence supported Blaize’s murder conviction for the attack at Monier’s home near the town of Fort Branch, about 20 miles north of Evansville. Prosecutors say Blaize waited there for his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend to arrive, tried to shoot him and then shot Monier during a struggle.