Bio

Randall L. Hubbard was born on December 15, 1959, and had previously worked with a man named Gary Thacker, whom he would later attempt to implicate in the murders at trial.

Murder Story

On the morning of November 27, 1996, an employee arrived at a Martinsville VFW post and found two co-workers dead. Both victims had worked the previous evening. Each had been shot from behind with a nine-millimeter handgun, and police determined that about $600 had been stolen from the post.

Investigators later focused on Randall Hubbard. A local bartender testified that Hubbard had been carrying a nine-millimeter handgun on the night of the killings. Another witness, Dean Burpo, testified that when he left the VFW post around midnight, Hubbard was alone with the two victims. Burpo also said one of the victims was preparing to close the post and was counting the night’s earnings.

After the killings, several witnesses saw Hubbard in two Martinsville bars. The Indiana Supreme Court record states that he had recently changed clothes and showered. Witnesses also testified that he was carrying a large amount of money, even though he had been penniless earlier that evening.

At trial, Hubbard argued that Gary Thacker had committed the murders and that Hubbard had only been present to give Thacker a ride. Several witnesses testified that Hubbard had told them Thacker shot the victims, spared Hubbard’s life so he could implicate him, threatened him not to report the killings, and gave him money.

Hubbard was charged on December 1, 1996, with two counts of murder, two counts of felony murder, and one count of robbery. On May 6, 1998, a jury convicted him on all counts. Judgment was entered on the two murder counts and the robbery count.

The trial court sentenced Hubbard to two consecutive 60-year prison terms for the murders and a 45-year term for robbery. Secondary case summaries list the sentencing date as July 24, 1998.

Hubbard appealed to the Indiana Supreme Court. He challenged the trial court’s accomplice-liability instructions and also argued that polygraph evidence involving Gary Thacker should have been admitted. On January 16, 2001, the Indiana Supreme Court rejected those arguments and affirmed the judgment of the trial court.