MONROE COUNTY, Ind. — A federal judge in Indianapolis has ordered the release of the man convicted of killing Indiana University student Jill Behrman.
U.S. District Judge James R. Sweeney found that the job done by the attorney for John Myers II was so flawed that his 2006 murder conviction cannot stand. The judge Myers’ murder conviction overturned.
According to court documents, counsel for Myers “made false statements to the jury during opening arguments…and failed to object to two significant categories of evidence that should not have been presented to the jury.”
Unless prosecutors choose to try Myers again, he will be released in about four months.
Behrman, 19, disappeared during a bike ride in May 2000. Her remains were found nearly three years later in a Morgan County field. Prosecutors said Behrman died of a gunshot wound to the head.