A Winona Lake man will find out Jan. 5 how long he will spend in jail after being found guilty on one count of attempted murder.
After less than an hour and a half of deliberation, the nine-man, three-woman jury decided Eric Vincent Graves, Winona Lake, went to the Etna Green home of Carl and Regina Wireman the night of April 13 with the intention of killing Carl Wireman.
Graves and Regina Wireman had been having an extramarital affair for six years that resulted in Regina admitting herself to a behavorial center.
While she was there, Graves became upset about the status of the affair. On April 13, he arrived at the Wireman home with three handguns and 133 rounds of ammunition.
After making phone calls to his sister and parents, Graves went to the Wireman's front door with a weapon drawn, made threats, then he and Carl Wireman became involved in an altercation.
The altercation ended with Graves suffering a single gunshot wound to his head. Graves' defense team tried to imply Wireman shot Graves while the prosecution said Graves attempted suicide.
Wireman has never been charged with any offense stemming from the April 13 incident.
Graves was charged with the attempted murder of Wireman and his now-14-year-old daughter.The jury determined Graves did try to kill Carl Wireman but not Wireman's daughter.
Friday morning began with final instructions and closing arguments from the defense and prosecution.
Defense attorney Daniel Vanderpool used all of his allotted time to try and convince the jury the events of April 13 were "a mystery."
Vanderpool spent much of his time in closing arguments, and during Graves' defense trying to put a cloud over the investigation by police and their motives.
During his closing argument, Kosciusko County Prosecuting Attorney Steven Hearn said he found such accusations "appalling."
"His motive was self-evident," said Hearn. He called the possibility of Wireman shooting Graves "not a plausible scenario."
While Vanderpool asked how Graves ended up with a severely broken jaw and a gunshot wound, Hearn asked the jury why Graves' supposed suicide plans where so elaborate.
"If the defendant was going to commit suicide, why did he go to the Wireman's home?" asked Hearn.
Vanderpool equated Graves' "irrational" plan to what has come to be known as "suicide by cop."
After the jury returned with its verdict, Superior Court I Judge Duane Huffer read the verdict and informed the defense and the prosecution that, following a pre-sentence investigation, Graves would be sentenced Jan. 5 at 8:30 a.m.
"I think we can say we were pleased with the verdict," Hearn said after the trial.
Hearn acknowledged that, though he was confident in the evidence in the case, it would be more difficult to deliver the attempted murder conviction on Wireman's daughter.
