INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Indiana’s high court is taking up the appeal of a man convicted in a deadly Indianapolis house explosion.
The state Supreme Court will hear arguments Thursday in 47-year-old Mark Leonard’s direct appeal of his murder and arson convictions.
He was convicted in July 2015 in the natural gas blast that destroyed his then-girlfriend’s home and killed two next-door neighbors. A judge sentenced Leonard to two life sentences without parole plus 75 years in the November 2012 explosion.
Leonard’s appeal contends that testimony about a separate murder-for hire scheme he is charged in should never have been presented at his trial.
Prosecutors say Leonard spearheaded a plot to destroy the house to collect insurance money. Four others were charged in that scheme, including Leonard’s half-brother, who was convicted in February.