Indiana appeals court overturns Marquis D. Young's murder conviction

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 Marquis D. Young's murder conviction and his convictions on two counts of attempted murder, citing a lack of evidence. A Lake County jury convicted Young, 31, in the shooting that killed Dion Clayton, 27, and wounded two other men.

But Judge Nancy Vaidik wrote for the state appeals court that the key evidence linking Young to the shooting was a cigarette butt police found in a well-trafficked alley near the Gary gas station two days after the May 2020 shooting.