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Jury finds Gary man guilty in 2012 murder-for-hire

VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP) - A jury has found a Gary man guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder in a 2012 killing-for-hire.

The Times of Munster (http://bit.ly/1H62bKj ) reports 22-year-old Dontaye Singletary will be sentenced Feb. 27.

Prosecutors say Singletary shot and killed 72-year-old Carl Griffith Sr. shortly after Griffith returned to his Portage home in November 2012. Singletary's attorney, Peter Boyles, said nothing at the scene ties Singletary to Griffith's death, and they plan to appeal.

The state Court of Appeals earlier upheld a Porter County judge's decision to allow videotaped statements from a dead witness, Antoinetta Johnson of Hammond. She was shot in December 2012 in her Gary beauty salon. Singletary's former prison cellmate told a judge in April that Singletary told him he had Johnson killed.

Johnson testified that she drove Singletary to Portage and back to Gary. Singletary tried to shoot Griffith earlier that day when he called Griffith for tow truck service in Gary, according to prosecutors, but the gun jammed.

Johnson said she later picked up a shared payment of $5,200 from a co-defendant, Sheaurice Major of Portage. Major is accused of hiring Singletary to kill Griffith because she didn't like him. Griffith worked for a towing company owned by Major's estranged husband.

Boyles said Johnson gave varying accounts of events to investigators. Singletary's mother, Grenetta Singletary, said her son was at her Gary apartment at the time Griffith was killed.

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Information from: The Times, http://www.thetimesonline.com

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