Source: Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office / WISH-TV
FRANKLIN, Ind. (WISH) — A man who was found guilty of attempted murder is faced with an additional charge after his effort to flee the courtroom during his trial in late February.
Nicholas Robert Saunders, 20, Elizabethtown, was originally charged with attempted murder, battery, and two counts of pointing a firearm. Saunders was found guilty on Feb. 28 of attempted murder and two felony counts of pointing a firearm in Johnson Superior Court 2.
In August 2022, Saunders pointed a firearm at a woman and attempted to murder her husband while they unloaded a vehicle outside their home in Morgantown.
The Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office filed a charge of escape, a level 5 felony after Saunders fleed the courtroom following the jury’s guilty verdict.
According to an affidavit, after the jury returned a guilty verdict, Saunders stood up and aggressively shoved his chair at the defense table. He walked toward two of the jail officers, pushed past both, and headed toward the courtroom exit.
Once he pushed past the two deputies, he started running. The deputies then began to chase Saunders into the east hallway, where he exited a set of double doors and ran to the stairwell, which led to an exit.
Deputies deployed a taser to help keep Saunders from exiting the building. As Saunders continued to run down the stairwell, he turned the corner, lost his balance, hit the wall, and fell to the floor. Deputies captured Saunders, put him in handcuffs, and escorted him back to his holding cell.
Saunders’ fall created a large hole in the stairwell drywall and will cost $100 or less to repair, court docs say.
