Supreme Court won’t review Hartman case

• The Indiana Supreme Court declined to review Brian Scott Hartman’s appeal of his murder convictions.
• Hartman fatally shot his father, and likely gave his seriously ill mother an overdose of meds, in 2010.
• He was convicted by a Randolph County jury in 2013, and sentenced to 120 years in prison.

WINCHESTER – The Indiana Supreme Court made a significant ruling in Brian Scott Hartman’s favor before he stood trial on allegations that he murdered his mother and father.

The state’s highest court said jurors in Hartman’s Randolph Circuit Court trial could not hear testimony about incriminating statements the defendant made to police about his parents’ February 2010 deaths.

As it turned out, Prosecutor David Daly didn’t need those statements to secure two murder convictions, in October 2013. A month later, Judge Jay Toney sentenced Hartman to 120 years in prison.

In recent days, the Supreme Court again had an opportunity to weigh in on the Hartman case. This time, the five justices turned thumbs down, ruling they would not consider Hartman’s appeal, which had been rejected by the Indiana Court of Appeals last September.

That action — or lack of action — makes it all the more likely Hartman will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

Testimony during the trial indicated Hartman fatally shot his 53-year-old father, also named Brian Hartman, in the family’s southwestern Randolph County home on Feb. 12, 2010.

He was also accused of causing the death of his 52-year-old mother, Cheri, the same day, likely with a fatal overdose of her prescription medication. The remains of Cheri Hartman — who had suffered from cancer and emphysema — were cremated at her son’s direction before authorities realized her husband had been murdered.

The appeals court last year rejected Hartman’s argument that separate trials should have been conducted on each murder count.

Hartman, now 38, is incarcerated at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. According to a state Department of Correction website, his projected release date is in February 2070, when he would be 94.

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. You can also follow him on Twitter @DouglasWalkerSP.