Accused Carthage killer's attorneys may use alleged accomplice's suicide to aid defense

Court documents filed Monday indicate lawyers for Darren Winans, 23, Jasper, plan to use the suicide of Winans' alleged accomplice, Matthew Laurin, to bolster their defense.

Public defender Charles Moreland filed a motion to compel production of "Jasper County jail incident reports, surveillance video, suicide notes, photocopied incoming and outgoing mail, psychological and counseling records and autopsy report pertaining to the death of co-defendant Matthew Laurin."

A hearing on the motion has been scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 23, in Jasper County Circuit Court.

Laurin killed himself in the Jasper County Jail shortly after he pleaded guilty to the October 2009 murders of Bob and Ellen Sheldon, owners of the Old Cabin Shop in Carthage. Though Jasper County prosecutors have said they never intended to call Laurin as a witness against Winans, he was the third person who could have offered testimony linking Winans to the crime who has died, as noted in the July 28 Turner Report.