CROWN POINT â A jury found a man not guilty on all counts Friday after a weeklong trial on charges he murdered a 20-year-old Valparaiso man in 2017 during a drug deal that went bad when the victim's then-16-year-old sister attempted to run off with $25 of prescription pills.
Joseph James Allen Gilbert, also known as Joseph Lyell, was acquitted of murder and two counts of criminal recklessness in the shooting death of Michael Brown on Oct. 7, 2017, outside Gilbert's home in the 2400 block of Connecticut Street in Gary.
The Lake Criminal Court jury also found Gilbert not guilty of dealing in a schedule IV controlled substance, despite his attorney's admission during closing arguments that he arranged to sell Xanax to Brown's younger sister.