Appeals court upholds convictions in 2015 Indiana slayings

HARTFORD CITY, Ind. (AP) - An appeals court has upheld the murder convictions of an eastern Indiana man for fatally shooting a man and his daughter in 2015.

The (Muncie) Star Press reports (http://tspne.ws/2l5erSU ) the Indiana Court of Appeals this week called 62-year-old Charles Whittington "among the worst of the worst." The court in a 3-0 ruling also found the "brutality and senselessness" justified his 170-year prison term.

Blackford Circuit Judge Dean Young had imposed the maximum sentence on Whittington for the Feb. 5, 2015 slayings of 40-year-old Shane Paul Williamson, of Hartford City, and Williamson's 14-year-old daughter, Katelin. Young said Whittington deserved the death penalty.

Whittington maintained in his appeal that Young shouldn't have allowed jurors to hear testimony about his statements to police and suggested he should've been found guilty but mentally ill.

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Information from: The Star Press, http://www.thestarpress.com