Indianapolis house explosion convict: Informant set him up
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A man convicted of planning a house explosion that killed two people and devastated an Indianapolis neighborhood testified Friday that he was set up by a jailhouse informant who claimed he could help him have a key witness killed.
Mark Leonard, who's serving two life sentences without parole plus 75 years for convictions stemming from the November 2012 explosion, testified at a hearing on the alleged murder-for-hire scheme. He faces an additional 20 to 50 years if convicted.
Leonard says the informant, Robert Smith, told him he could help with having the witness killed. Leonard also said that after he made the call to the purported hit man, who turned out to be an undercover officer, Smith "started jumping up and down like he was the happiest man in the world. ... I knew what he had done. He had me talk to a police officer. He had me set up. But what do you do about it?"
After Leonard testified, the case was continued until May, and Leonard, 47, was returned to the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City.
The informant and the undercover officer also are part of Leonard's appeal of his August convictions on 53 counts including two counts of murder, arson and insurance fraud in connection with the explosion that killed Dion and Jennifer Longworth, injured a dozen other people, and destroyed or damaged dozens of homes in a subdivision on Indianapolis' south side.
In an 84-page brief filed Wednesday in the appeal pending before the Indiana Supreme Court, Leonard argues testimony about the murder-for hire scheme never should have been presented at his trial because his attorney had not been present for his questioning by the undercover officer posing as a hit man.
Leonard also argued in the brief that the state never proved he killed the Longworths, who were neighbors of Leonard's former girlfriend, Monserrate Shirley.
The brief asks for a new trial for Leonard, that his murder convictions be reversed, or that his life sentences without parole be vacated on grounds they are unconstitutional.
The Attorney General's Office issued a statement Friday saying it will "vigorously oppose" Leonard's attempts to reverse any guilty verdicts and defend the constitutionality of Indiana law authorizing sentences of life without parole.
Leonard's half brother, Bob Leonard, was convicted in February on all 51 counts he had faced, including murder, arson and insurance fraud charges. He received two consecutive life sentences without parole on the murder counts, along with 70 years on the other charges.
Shirley, who testified against both men, has pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges. She faces 20 years to 50 years in prison when sentenced.