Mistrial declared in case of Indiana man accused of fatally shooting five, including pregnant woman

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A judge declared a mistrial in the case of an Indianapolis man accused of fatally shooting five people, including a pregnant woman, after a witness verbally confronted the defendant in front of the jury.

Marion County Superior Judge Chris Miller declared the mistrial Tuesday in the trial of Raymond Ronald Lee Childs III, who faces six counts of murder in the January 2021 slayings in an Indianapolis home.

Childs, 20, was arrested a day after the attack and accused of killing his father, stepmother, two teenage relatives, a woman nearly due to give birth, and her unborn son.

The mistrial came after a key witness in the case, Elanso Valez, testified that in the hours after the killings, he had picked up Childs and drove him around Indianapolis. He said Childs later covered his eyes and wept while laying on a bed at Valez’s home in Plainfield, just west of Indianapolis.

“Y’all remember that?” Valez asked Childs from the witness stand, WXIN-TV reported.

The defense and prosecution teams quickly sought to cut Valez off, and the j...