Home Christian News Mistrial Declared in 2015 Killing of Indianapolis Pastor’s Wife

Mistrial Declared in 2015 Killing of Indianapolis Pastor’s Wife

davey blackburn
Screen grab from Instagram: @daveyblackburn

More than six years after Amanda Blackburn, the wife of Indianapolis pastor Davey Blackburn, was shot and killed during a home invasion, the case is still working its way through the court system. This week, a mistrial was declared in the trial of defendant Larry Jo Taylor Jr. after several jurors acknowledged they were aware Blackburn was pregnant. As the IndyStar reports, that was information the defense team had “successfully moved to keep from jurors.”

Another jury will be seated for a new trial. Charges against Taylor include four counts of murder plus multiple other counts. Two co-defendants accepted plea deals in exchange for cooperating with prosecutors in Taylor’s case. Earlier this year, Jalen Watson was sentenced to 29 years for robbery and 20 years for burglary, to be served concurrently. The case against Diano Gordon is ongoing.

The prosecutor’s office says the ongoing pandemic and the multiple defendants account for the length of the case.

Pastor Davey Blackburn Expresses Forgiveness

In November 2015, Blackburn, a 28-year-old mother of one who was 12 weeks pregnant, was shot in the head during what turned out to be an eight-day crime spree. She died at the hospital soon afterward. Her husband, Pastor Davey Blackburn, who had been at the gym at the time, later spoke of forgiveness and a desire to share the gospel with the assailants.

The Blackburns had moved to Indianapolis in 2011 to plant Resonate Church, which closed in early 2019. Before that, Davey Blackburn worked with Pastor Perry Noble at NewSpring Church in South Carolina.

After his wife’s murder, Blackburn said in an interview with Noble that forgiveness would be “a daily decision,” not merely an emotion. “Imagine if these three guys met Jesus,” he added, noting what a blow that “would be for the enemy.”

Davey Blackburn: ‘My Story Is Not One of Tragedy’

Davey Blackburn, who has since remarried, now does public speaking and coaching to help people find “purpose in your pain.” On his website NothingIsWasted.com, he writes about his family’s story of redemption and healing. Through the process, he realized that God “had given me the power to take back what the enemy had stolen from me in the spiritual realm. I could seize joy again. I could choose to worship. I could decide to be grateful. I could resolve to heal. By His Spirit I could overcome.”