In the end, a jury split the difference.
Jurors on Friday afternoon found Doroszko, 20, guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the 2019 shooting death of 19-year-old Traychon Taylor, finding that Doroszko did not commit murder but also rejecting his claim that he was justified in using deadly force to protect himself from a robbery while he was dealing marijuana.
The case is the latest to push the limits of Indianaâs self-defense law, which at face value denies self-defense rights to anyone committing even a low-level or nonviolent crime at the time of a confrontation.
If the jury had convicted Doroszko of murder, he would have faced up to 85 years in prison, based on the maximum 65-year term for murder and a sentencing enhancement of up to 20 years for using a gun to commit a crime.