Mentzer v. State

Appellant was charged by affidavit with violation of the Uniform Firearms Act. Trial by jury in the Allen Superior Court, Criminal Division, resulted in a verdict of guilty and judgment was entered accordingly. Appellant v/as sentenced to five years in the Indiana State Prison.

On appeal, appellant raises two issues: 1) that a handgun, State’s Exhibit No. 1, should have been suppressed; and 2) that prejudicial pretrial publicity violated appellant’s right to a fair and impartial trial and the trial court’s refusal to grant a change of venue from the county was an abuse of discretion.

The facts…