MUNCIE, IN — The Indiana Court of Appeals has upheld a Delaware County teenager’s convictions stemming from two overdose deaths.
A Delaware Circuit Court 1 jury in December 2024 found Jaxon W. Engle guilty of dealing in a controlled substance resulting in death and aiding, inducing or causing dealing in a controlled substance resulting in death.
He was later sentenced to 60 years in prison by Judge Judi Calhoun.
Testimony at his trial indicated Engle was a player in events that saw 18-year-old Javin Nichols die after ingesting a fentanyl pill in July 2023.
Two months later, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Zach Craig said, Engle sold one of the “blue M30” fentanyl pills to 17-year-old Kamron Lacy, who also died after overdosing.
In his closing statement to jurors, Craig said Engle and accomplices showed “a willingness to prey on the bad decisions made by those young men.”
In an appeal, Engle — now 19 — maintained the case against him should not have been waived from juvenile court and that incriminating statements he made to police should not have been used in his prosecution.
In a 3-0 ruling released on Friday, Jan. 30, the Indiana Court of Appeals disagreed and upheld his convictions.
“Although Engle claims there were superior services available in the juvenile justice system, Engle failed to establish that he took his rehabilitation seriously in his prior contact with the system,” Judge Peter Foley wrote in Friday’s ruling.
The appeals panel also found that Engle “has not identified an abuse of discretion in the admission of his statements to law enforcement based on his opportunity to confer with his grandparents rather than a biological parent.”
Engle, incarcerated at the Pendleton Correctional Facility, has a projected release date in October 2068, according to a state Department of Correction website.
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: Delaware County teen’s dealing-resulting-in-death convictions upheld
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
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