South Bend, Indiana – A man who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of another man outside a bar in northern Indiana in 2019 has been given a new trial by the Indiana Supreme Court.
Kyle Doroszko, 22, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and given a 1212-year prison term for the shooting death of Traychon Taylor, 19, in April 2019 close to a South Bend pub.
Taylor and a few pals had planned to buy marijuana from Doroszko, but they tried to rob him instead, which led to the shooting. During a fight, Doroszko fatally shot Taylor and has maintained that he did so in self-defense.
The Indiana Court of Appeals maintained the conviction of Doroszko despite agreeing that St. Joseph Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Sanford had broken state regulations controlling jury questioning. Doroszko challenged his conviction in May 2021.
The South Bend Tribune reported that in their decision on Thursday, Indiana’s five Supreme Court Justices decided to award Doroszko a new trial after concluding that Sanford had wrongfully refused them the chance to examine potential jurors.
Given that his defense focused on self-defense arguments, the court determined that Doroszko was denied the right to a fair and unbiased jury due to the inability to interrogate the potential jurors in-depth.
The justices wrote that the trial court “not only denied Doroszko the opportunity to conduct his own examination, it also inadequately examined the prospective jurors on controversial legal principles relevant to his claim of self-defense.”
