Thessalonica Allen, 37, was found guilty in less than 30 minutes by a LaPorte County jury following a four-day trial for causing the death of Randy Allen, 50, on July 27, 2021, at their home in the 1400 block of West 18th Street in LaPorte, according to court records. Records show Allen shot her husband as he was preparing to move out following an argument. After he bled out, Allen initially hid his corpse in a bedroom, then tried to carry it to the trunk of her car, and eventually cut off his legs, put them in trash bags, and had her teenage children help put the rest of the body in a plastic tote and hide it in a bedroom closet.
In her appeal, Allen said she acted in self-defense and the evidence was insufficient to convict her of murder. She also asserted the trial judge erred by refusing to admit into evidence an unsubstantiated protective order Allen obtained against her husband and said the judge failed to instruct the jury on a potential involuntary manslaughter charge. The appeals court rejected all three of Allen's claims in its 3-0 ruling.
Chief Judge Robert Altice, writing for the appeals court, said rather than acting in self-defense, it was Allen who escalated the argument into violence by shooting her husband as he was preparing to move out and when he posed no threat to her. Listen now and subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | RSS Feed | SoundStack | All Of Our Podcasts Allen also had no evidence of immediate injuries or bruises her husband ha.