Indiana appeals court overturns Gary man’s murder conviction

CROWN POINT, Ind., (AP) — Indiana’s appeals court has overturned the murder conviction of a Gary man sentenced last year to 115 years in prison for a fatal shooting at a gas station.

The 2-1 decision released Wednesday overturned 31-year-old Marquis D. Young’s murder conviction and his convictions on two counts of attempted murder, citing a lack of evidence. A jury convicted Young in the shooting that killed 27-year-old Dion Clayton and wounded two other men.

But appeals court Judge Nancy Vaidik wrote that a cigarette butt with Young’s DNA on it that police found near the gas station two days after the shooting “comes nowhere close to proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”