An appeals court upheld a Whiting man’s conviction last year in a 1998 Hammond triple homicide.
James Higgason, 53, was sentenced to 180 years in June 2022.
Prosecutors alleged he and David Copley beat Elva Tamez, then 36, Jerod “Buddy” Hodge, 18, and Timothy “Midnight” Ross, 16 to death on Jan. 18, 1998 with pieces of wood or metal pipes, records state. They were trying to get drugs and cash in Tamez’s home, a suspected “crack house” on the 4600 block of Torrence Avenue in Hammond, according to court documents.
The case went uncharged for 23 years.
Lake Superior Judge Salvador Vasquez was correct to deny Higgason’s motion to dismiss, Indiana Court of Appeals Judge Melissa May wrote.
It took years to get DNA testing good enough to charge the case, she said. The ruling wasn’t “motivated by an attempt to prejudice Higgason,” she said.
The trial court was correct to admit recorded phone calls between Higgason and Copley.
It was justified to deny Higgason’s motion for a mistrial. A failure to tell a lawyer about a jury question on Higgason’s “culpability” was not enough to throw out the case.
There was “sufficient” evidence for his conviction, she wrote.
Higgason’s lawyers Mark Gruenhagen and Matt Fech argued at trial the evidence against him was thin and Copley wasn’t credible because he flipped in exchange for his testimony.
As technology became more sophisticated, Indiana State Police linked DNA in 2020 from Tamez’s fingernail clippings to Copley. A secondary, but much more limited hit came from Higgason, court records show.
Both men were charged in January 2021.
Copley had gone to the police in 1998 alleging Higgason instigated the murders, threatening to kill him if he did not cooperate, court records show.
Both men were early suspects, but charges were not accepted back in 1998, a Hammond Police news release said previously.
