MARION COUNTY — A Hancock County native had her murder conviction reversed by the Indiana Court of Appeals, and she is appearing in a Marion County court this week, getting a chance at a new trial.
Rebecca Lawson, who grew up in Shirley and graduated from Eastern Hancock High School in 2008, was convicted in the murder of her ex-boyfriend and the attempted murder of her romantic rival, and was sentenced to 85 years in prison last year, records show.
During her January 2017 trial, Lawson claimed self-defense, saying she shot the couple because she believed they intended to harm her, according to court documents.
But the legal definition of self-defense wasn’t properly explained to the jury before they started deliberating, judges from the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled after Lawson appealed her conviction.
The higher court sent the case back to Marion County, where a new jury is hearing the case this week, records show.
Lawson was arrested in February 2016 outside of a home in Indianapolis, where she admittedly shot two people, killing one and seriously injuring the other, records show.
Patrick Brown, 35, died after being struck in the chest by a single bullet, according to court documents. Pathologists ruled his death a homicide, reports state.
A second victim, Cecilia Land, was shot twice in the face and hospitalized with critical injuries. According to trial records, Land lost her right eye and part of her thumb because of the shooting; and her sinus cavity and jaw needed to be reconstructed.
Lawson visited Brown’s home to collect belongings she had left there and an argument broke out, court documents state. She was seated in her car, holding a gun in her lap when the argument started.
Lawson said she fired the gun after Brown grabbed her face violently, according to court documents. She told police she fired at Land a few moments later when she saw the woman running toward her, holding something dark in her hand, which Lawson believed to be a gun, according to court documents.
It was later determined that Land was holding a cellphone.
After the shootings, Lawson called 911 and told dispatchers she’d shot two people, according to court documents. She stayed at the scene and cooperated with police investigators.
Testimony in the original trial revealed Brown had never been physical with Lawson before, and “she was terrified” by his actions right before the shooting, court documents state. She raised a claim of self-defense, records show.
But when the time came for the jury to deliberate, the legal definition of a self-defense claim wasn’t properly explained to the panel, the court of appeals ruled. Without it, the jury was “left to cobble together the elements of self-defense as best it could,” according to the decision from the court of appeals.
The document states: “The issue of self-defense was discussed by the trial court, defense counsel and the state numerous times during trial. The trial court indicated that it intended to give a jury instruction on self-defense. The state conceded that giving a self-defense instruction to the jury was proper. … Despite this discussion … the trial court did not give a self-defense instruction to the jury during final instructions. Neither party objected to the omission of the instruction.”
In claiming self-defense, Lawson would need to prove she acted without fault, she was in a place where she had the right to be and was in reasonable fear or apprehension of bodily harm, the appellate court wrote.
The jury should have been informed of those points so they could properly weigh the evidence, the court ruled, ordering Lawson be given a second chance in court.
Lawson’s new trial began Monday and is expected to conclude this week. She remains in custody at the Marion County Jail.