A jury acquitted a Lafayette man Thursday in a Gary murder.
Robert White, 44, was charged with murder in the Sept. 15, 2023 death of Duane Quinn, 39, of Gary. He was found not guilty after less than two hours.
White “lost his mind,” Deputy Prosecutor Michelle Jatkiewicz said in closing arguments Thursday, shooting Quinn multiple times.
The investigation was “defective,” defense lawyer Nick Barnes argued Thursday. After investigators learned White and Quinn had gotten into an argument hours earlier, he was “their guy.”
If DNA was tested on the steering wheel, gear shift, or turning signal, that would have “exonerated my client.”
The testimony of a couple witnesses, including White’s stepfather, didn’t entirely match, Barnes told jurors. White’s stepfather was “covered in blood” and that prosecutors told him to be a “hero” and come forward “or they’ll start looking at him.”
Gary Police responded at 2:05 a.m. Sept. 15, 2023 to the 1900 block of Clay Street. A white Dodge Caravan was partly in a ditch.
The minivan was off, in park, and the keys were missing. A man was slumped over into the passenger seat.
The driver’s side window was shattered, but there was no broken glass on the ground. A passenger door was open. Police thought the van had been moved. Quinn was shot multiple times with a revolver in the head and torso.
Barnes thanked his co-counsel Victoria Bain on Friday, saying it was a “flawed investigation” with “flawed witnesses.”
Investigators never credibly “eliminated” the other man as a suspect, he argued. They didn’t collect his DNA for testing, while White was excluded from DNA on the driver door’s handle.
