McHugh
A Martinsville teen pleaded guilty to a robbery related to a triple shooting that claimed the life of two teens on Christmas Eve 2020 in Bargersville.
Ethan Bell, 18, of rural Morgan County, and an unidentified 17-year-old were shot to death at the Circle K, 9400 W State Road 144, Bargersville.
The survivor, Devon McHugh, 18, of Martinsville, was charged with conspiracy to commit robbery, a Level 5 felony in August 2021. He pleaded guilty to the charge and is awaiting sentencing on May 12.
McHugh told police the three organized a drug deal to buy $400 worth of marijuana, but only brought $200, with plans to rob the individuals, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in Johnson County Circuit Court.
McHugh told police Bell and the juvenile were unarmed. The plan was to pretend the juvenile’s cell phone was a gun. They didn’t think a real gun was needed because Bargersville and rural Morgan Country are safe areas. McHugh and the juvenile had participated in several other drug deal robbery plots without incident, according to court documents.
This incident was fatal though.
During the robbery, Bell was sitting in the middle of a red Chevy Cruze and two people were in the front seats of the vehicle. McHugh was asked to step aside and the juvenile came into the car. McHugh didn’t hear what the juvenile said, but after he started talking to the people in the front seats of the vehicle, gunfire erupted, court documents show.
Sixteen shell casings were found inside the car where the teens were gunned down, along with several bullet holes. Additional casings, bullet impact marks and some broken glass were also found at the scene, according to court documents.
Bell and the juvenile died at the scene. McHugh survived with gunshot wounds in the leg and flank.
In August 2021, Bargersville police and Johnson County prosecutors said there were leads on the identity of the shooter or shooters, but there was not enough evidence to file additional charges or secure a conviction. That remains true seven months later, said Joe Villanueva, Johnson County prosecutor.
The shooting remains unsolved and investigators are still pursuing any leads that come in in an effort to eventually solve the case, Villanueva said.
The plea agreement is a good outcome for the robbery portion of the case. The statements McHugh gave to police lay out clearly his part in the case, and McHugh’s attorney requested a plea agreement, he said.
Prosecutors agreed due to McHugh’s lack of previous criminal history, and because there are no circumstances which would not lead to more severe charges outside the agreement, Villanueva said.
“Our agreement resulted in him pleading guilty as charged and contemplates the possibility of prison time, and that is what we intend to ask for at sentencing on May 12. Spending two days having a trial to end up at the same place would be an inappropriate use of the limited resources of our courts and an unnecessary infringement on our citizens’ time,” he said.
Though the deadly shooting is still under investigation, it is appropriate to resolve this part of the case, Villanueva said.
“It is now known that the three teens were actively engaged in an attempted robbery when the shooting occurred, and those facts are now a part of the greater shooting investigation. We have sufficient evidence to hold McHugh accountable for his role in what happened that evening, and there is no reason to forego or delay those charges because we are still waiting on information to develop on the shooting,” he said. “The statute of limitation is five years on the robbery charge, and it would be inappropriate and unnecessary to either risk losing that charge by waiting for the statute of limitations to run or artificially wait to file the charge against McHugh until just before it does.”
