An Indianapolis man who helped attack and rob a Center Grove area man who later died of his injuries has been found guilty of murder and robbery.
Zachary Ray, 26, was found guilty of both charges after a two-day jury trial in Marion County. He will be sentenced March 18 and could face up to 65 years in prison for the murder charge and up to 50 years for the robbery charge.
In April 2013, police said Ray and Richard Mays waited outside a bar near the University of Indianapolis and jumped Center Grove area resident Michael Campbell after he was lured outside by a woman, Lori McKinney, according to a police report. Mays punched Campbell in the back of the head, knocking him to the ground, according to a police report. When Campbell didn’t move, Ray began kicking him before rolling him onto his back so he and Mays could search his pockets, stealing his wallet and cellphone.
Campbell, a truck driver, had about $30 in cash on him when he was robbed, according to a police report.
Campbell was taken to an Indianapolis hospital in critical condition. While in the hospital, his condition declined, and his family took him off life support so that he wouldn’t suffer. He died about a month after the robbery. An autopsy determined Campbell died due to blunt force trauma to the back of the head.
Mays also is charged with murder and robbery and has a trial scheduled for June. McKinney was charged with robbery and has a hearing later this week.
Ray’s attorney, Michelle Wall, did not return phone calls on Wednesday.
The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office will not comment on the case until after Ray is sentenced, spokesman Michael Leffler said.
Ray will return to prison. His past convictions included charges of battery by bodily waste, intimidation, theft and a felony charge of battery.
The attack on Campbell happened about two weeks after Ray was released from prison, according to the Indiana Department of Correction. He was convicted of battery in Hendricks County in September 2011 and sentenced to nearly four years in prison. But he was released on March 25, 2013, after serving less than two years of his sentence due to good behavior and other credit time he was able to earn.
The attack on Campbell happened 16 days after Ray’s release from prison.
Since the April 2013 incident, Ray also was convicted of two other charges in Marion County last March, including a one-year prison sentence for theft and a 15-year sentence for unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.
Police said Ray and the other two people were working together to try to rob patrons of the Colonial Inn Bar, located just north of Interstate 465 on Madison Avenue. McKinney chatted up people inside the bar, attempting to get them to come outside with her so the two men could attack them, police said.
She came outside with one man after agreeing to have sex with him, but the man spotted Ray and Mays lying in the bed of her pickup truck and went back inside. Staff at the bar told police McKinney then began talking with Campbell about a job and he was buying her drinks. He told a bartender he was going to another nearby bar with McKinney and would be back soon, but he didn’t return.
Police said Mays and Ray beat Campbell and left him unconscious on the ground behind the bar. He was discovered by a University of Indianapolis Police Department officer.
Campbell had two black eyes and a broken jaw and was in a coma when he was taken to Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis. He died May 13.
Police arrested McKinney shortly after Campbell’s death. Ray was arrested in June 2013 on separate charges in Marion County. He was questioned by police and told investigators that he saw Mays beat and rob Campbell that night while he was sitting in McKinney’s truck, according to court documents.
