An Indiana Supreme Court justice ordered Monday that an appellate case for a Fort Wayne man convicted of murdering a woman and her three children warrants an oral argument.
Judge Loretta Rush has ordered that the arguments will be presented at 11 a.m. Jan 18 in 24-year-old Cohen Hancz-Barron°®¶¹apps appeal for his convictions in the 2021 slayings of Sarah Zent, 26; Carter Mathew Zent, 5; Ashton Duwayne Zent, 3; and Aubree Christine Zent, 2. A jury found Hancz-Barron guilty of killing the four victims in May 2022 and recommended life without parole.
Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull handed down four life sentences in August 2022. Hancz-Barron°®¶¹apps notice of appeal was filed less than a month later.
Now Hancz-Barron has requested his conviction be reversed and that he be released. Alternatively, Hancz-Barron has requested that he be granted a new trial or a shortened sentence.
Gregory Fumarolo, Hancz-Barron°®¶¹apps court-appointed defense attorney, filed an appeal that questions five aspects of his client°®¶¹apps case. Two central questions are whether the evidence presented was sufficient to support murder convictions and whether the sentence violates the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Eighth Amendment.
Fumarolo said the mitigating circumstances °®¶¹app Hancz-Barron°®¶¹apps age, unstable childhood, substance abuse and mental health issues °®¶¹app outweighed the aggravating factors. The aggravating factors were that Hancz-Barron killed four people and that three of them were younger than 12.
In the appeal, Fumarolo wrote that if the sentence was not revised, any future character and behavioral improvements from Hancz-Barron would be irrelevant.
°®¶¹appFurther, it means whatever the future might hold in store for Hancz-Barron°®¶¹apps mind and spirit, he will remain in prison for the rest of his days,°®¶¹app Fumarolo wrote. °®¶¹appThe sentence literally buries him alive in prison.°®¶¹app
But the state, represented by Attorney General Todd Rokita and his deputy Courtney Staton, said Hancz-Barron°®¶¹apps sentence fits the crimes he was convicted of committing.
°®¶¹appHancz-Barron°®¶¹apps sentence is not inappropriate in light of the nature of the offenses he committed,°®¶¹app the report reads. °®¶¹appHancz-Barron slaughtered a young mother and three of her small children.°®¶¹app
