An Indiana homeowner accused of killing a house cleaner who accidentally arrived at his front door now faces voluntary charges. Authorities served him on Monday. The case will test the limits of State-Ground laws. Curt Anderson he could face anywhere from 10 to 30 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if the court sentences him to death Maria Florinda Rios Perez de Velasquez.
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Curt Anderson says The cleaning house was ‘stirring’ at the front door
Police found 32-year-old Maria dead on the front deck of a white, Indianapolis suburb. Authorities say the Guatemalan was part of a cleaning crew that went to the wrong house shortly before 7 a.m. on Nov. 5.
Rios’ husband told media outlets that he was with her on the deck when someone kicked out the front door. He didn’t realize he had been shot until he fell into his arms, bleeding. Authorities determined he had been shot in the head.
At that time, according to the probable cause statement, Anderson told investigators that he and his wife were sleeping in the upstairs bedroom when they heard a “commotion” at the door “which was very loud. He thought someone was using keys or tools on the front door.
Scared, he went to the top of the scene and saw through the windows of the house that two people were outside the front door. He told himself, “What am I going to do? It’s not working and I have to do something now.” He said he didn’t want to hurt anyone. However, he loaded his handgun, returned to the stairwell and saw through the windows the people “dominating” the door and becoming more aggressive, according to the statement. He fired one shot at the door. Anderson said the door was never opened. Also, he didn’t announce or say anything before he pulled the trigger.
Investigators found a hole in the door, but no evidence of hard contact with the door itself, the latch or the door frame.
The gunman’s lawyer is talking about charging
According to the Associated Press, officials are holding Curt Anderson in the Boone County Jail pending a preliminary hearing. Anderson’s attorney, Guy Relfordsent a statement to X saying he was disappointed that prosecutors had released his client. He said Anderson had every reason to believe his actions were legitimate and the statute of limitations clearly protected him.
“Mr. Anderson’s actions must be evaluated based on the circumstances in which he found them,” Rellford said in a statement.
Will your statute of limitations apply in this case?
Indiana is one of 31 states with a stand-your-own-land law. The law allows landlords to use deadly force to stop someone they believe is trying to trespass. But police said there was no evidence that a house cleaner entered Surt Anderson’s home before the shooting.
County Prosecutor Kent Eastwood It told reporters at a news conference that the decision to charge arevorson was not a difficult one. Furthermore, in Eastwood it means that your world defense does not apply because Anderson did not have sufficient knowledge to know whether his actions were reasonable.
“It is our belief that the individual did not have a reasonable belief that there was a need for him to be given all the forces given all the facts that he had at the time,” Eastwood said.
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Associated Press Writer Todd Richmond contributed to this report for the AP Newsroom.
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