MUNCIE, IN — A man who was convicted of trying to kill a Delaware County woman is seeking a new trial.
A Delaware Circuit Court 1 jury in October 2020 found Corey A. Garrett, now 51, guilty of attempted murder. He was also convicted of a misdemeanor count of domestic battery and was later sentenced to 36 years in prison by Judge Marianne Vorhees.
Garrett was arrested on Sept. 8, 2019, after he was accused of attacking 43-year-old Sharika L. Taylor with a claw hammer in her home along West Jackson Street in the Cammack neighborhood.
Taylor, treated at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital in the wake of the attack, told Yorktown police she was struck in the head and elsewhere with the hammer. She had also suffered a chin laceration and a broken nose.
Taylor died a few days later at her home, although authorities determined her death was not tied to the earlier injuries.
In a recent petition for post-conviction relief filed on Garrett’s behalf, Indianapolis attorney Thomas Gaunt asked that his client’s attempted murder conviction be set aside, and that a new trial be scheduled.
Gaunt maintained Garrett received ineffective legal counsel during his 2020 trial. He said a prosecution witness falsely testified, without objection from the defense, that Taylor’s death had been caused by a beating inflicted by the defendant.
Garrett, incarcerated at the Pendleton Correctional Facility, has a projected release date in November 2045, according to state Department of Correction records.
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: Man convicted of attempting to kill local woman seeks new trial
Reporting by Douglas Walker, Muncie Star Press / Muncie Star Press
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