MUNCIE, IN — A Delaware Circuit Court 4 jury deliberated for about four hours on Thursday, April 30, before finding a former Muncie resident guilty of murder.
Ian James Shelden, 46 — more recently of Jamestown, Tennessee — was accused of beating Muncie resident Mark Trent to death in the victim’s West 32nd Street home.
He was accused of then driving the body of Trent — 53 at the time of his death in March 2016 — to Fentress County, Tennessee, where it was dropped “from the side of a steep mountain overhang.” according to a court document.
Trent’s skeletonized remains were found by authorities in Fentress County after they were led to the scene by Shelden in October 2021.
The jury also found Shelden guilty of obstruction of justice and auto theft. Defense attorney Mark McKinney acknowledged in his closing remarks to jurors Thursday that his client — who stole and disposed of Trent’s pickup truck — had committed both of those crimes.
Shelden was found not guilty of one count, theft. Deputy prosecutor Maricel Driscoll acknowledged in her closing argument that while there was testimony about Shelden’s continued use of Trent’s debit card after the homicide, specific financial evidence to support the theft charge was not available.
McKinney and Driscoll had sharply different opinions on the murder charge against Shelden.
McKinney acknowledged his client had killed Trent and disposed of his body, but he insisted Shelden was acting in self-defense.
McKinney recalled an account of the killing Shelden gave to Delaware County sheriff’s investigators, when the Muncie man said Trent had made sexual advances, which he rejected, and then brandished a knife.
McKinney said Trent had the HIV virus, and that forced sexual activity with him could have represented a “literal death sentence.’
“Self-defense is all about prevention,” McKinney said. “You don’t have to wait to be shot. You don’t have to wait to be stabbed.”
Driscoll — who during her presentation displayed a photo of Trent’s bones on courtroom televisions —said Shelden had committed “an unimaginably brutal and heinous murder.”
“This was not self-defense,” she said. “This was straight-up murder.”
Driscoll noted when Shelden was confronted by deputies in 2021, he told several different stories about how Trent died, at one point maintaining he had suffered a fatal overdose.
She said Shelden lied to detectives “over and over and over again.”
Driscoll noted severe injuries inflicted to Trent’s head, one to the back of his skull, with a steel camping stake.
“Striking someone in the back of the head is not self-defense,” she said.
McKinney suggested the victim’s head injuries could have been suffered when his body was thrown down the mountain.
Zach Craig, chief deputy prosecutor, said Shelden was the person responsible “for unanswered questions” about the homicide.
Both the prosecutors and McKinney — who presented no defense witnesses — rested their cases on Wednesday afternoon.
Jurors did view video recordings of Shelden being interrogated by detectives.
Judge John Feick set Shelden’s sentencing hearing for May 27.
In Indiana, a murder conviction carries a maximum 65-year prison term.
The other two convictions are for Level 6 felonies carrying up to 30 months in prison.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Jury finds ex-Muncie resident guilty of murder in local beating death
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
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