Hung jury in trial of man accused of killing 39-year-old, burning his body
Kenneth E. Burns, 52, of Gary
CROWN POINT — A jury was still out late Thursday night after deliberating for approximately six hours in the trial of Gary man accused of killing a 39-year-old man and burning his body in a field in June 2022.
Kenneth Burns, 52, stood trial before Lake Criminal Court Judge Salvador Vasquez on a charge of murder. The trial ended with a hung jury.
A new trial was set for June 15.
Over three days, jurors heard testimony from 13 witnesses, including law enforcement, a forensic pathologist, DNA specialist and two people who were upstairs in the home where victim Andre White was killed.
White's burned body was found June 8, 2022 in an area near the 4800 block of West 21st Avenue with gunshot wounds to the stomach and neck.
During closing arguments, Deputy Prosecutor Jacquelyn Altpeter said the physical evidence in the case supported witness testimony. Witness Vernon Reeves testified Tuesday that on the night of June 7, 2022, he and his girlfriend were in the upstairs area of a house on the 2600 block of West 17th Avenue in Gary while Burns and White were talking downstairs.
After multiple popping sounds were heard, Burns called Reeves downstairs. Reeves said when he rushed down, he saw Burns holding a gun at his side and White slumped forward over a chair, bleeding. Reeves said when he asked Burns why he shot White, he said White was "talking too much" and "talking (expletive)." Reeves reached out to police a few days later and gave a formal interview.
"Andre White loses his life simply because he was talking (expletive) to the wrong person," Altpeter said.
The prosecution said video surveillance from a nearby business showed a Dodge Durango registered to Burns driving around 1:44 a.m. on June 8, 2022 down the street where White's body was later found. No other vehicles traveled on that road on that date and time. Gary police Detective Daryl Gordon testified that he was granted a search warrant for Burns' vehicle and found remnants of blood upon spraying a chemical agent designed to show evidence of a cleaned bloodstain. A DNA specialist testified the blood belonged to White.
Burns was arrested almost three weeks after the homicide when he was found hiding in an abandoned house. The state played a clip from the first phone call he made after his arrest in which his first words are, "well, they got me." Prosecutors said these factors demonstrate his guilt.
Defense attorney Scott King said the witnesses in the case who were at the house the day of the killing were not credible because they had been drinking copious amounts of alcohol that day, a fact that one of the witnesses admitted to.
"Someone under the influence of alcohol might be questioned about the accuracy of what they heard, what they saw," King said.
King urged the jury to consider other possible reasons for Burns' actions: He might have avoided police and hidden in the abandoned house out of fear, King said. Burns previously said he did not "mess with" police. King also told the jury that there is a possibility someone else was driving Burns' vehicle because no one actually saw Burns in the car.
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