After a week of trial in Washington Circuit Court, Joe P. Hambel found guilty of the murder of Joseph R. Hobson and Valerie E. Dicus in August 2016.
Hambel was arrested on August 20, 2016 and charged in connection with the their murders.
Hambel was found guilty today by a jury of his peers. Hambel was found guilty of
Count 1 Murder
Count 2 Murder
Count 3 Felony Murder
Count 4 Felony Murder
Count 5 Criminal Trespass
Hambel will be sentenced on Dec. 1 at 1p in front of Judge Larry Medlock. Hambel was represented by Defense Attorney Mark Clark.
Hambel was accused of shooting his cousin, Valerie Shelton Dicus, 37, and her boyfriend, Joe Hobson, 36, at a home on Small Street in Salem.
Dicus was staying there at the time with her father, who was incarcerated at the time of the incident, and her two half-brothers.
The jury heard the testimony of Sergeant Merritt Toomey, who has been with the Indiana State Police for nearly 26 years.
Toomey said he was called to the scene and arrived at Small Street around 3 a.m.
He called his associate, Phillip D’Angelo. They examined the outside of the home, looking for evidence of footprints, which they did not find.
They entered the house and did a walk-through and took notes, documenting the scene.
Toomey said D’Angelo took photos of the outside of the home before coming in to use a device to collect 3D images.
Toomey took photos of the interior of the home, including photos of the shell casings and bullets that were still in the home at the time.
When asked by prosecuting attorney Mark Wynn, Toomey said he found no evidence of illegal drug use in the home aside from a small bag of marijuana and a smoking device in one of the bedrooms of Logan and Seth Shelton.
In earlier testimony, Seth Shelton admitted he, Dicus and Hobson had used marijuana the night of Aug. 19.
