A Wabash County jury has found 39-year-old Nicholas Irelan guilty on all eight counts against him following a trial that concluded Wednesday morning.
Irelan, who represented himself during the trial with Public Defender Easton serving as standby counsel, was convicted on four Class 4 felony charges and four Class A misdemeanor charges.
Wednesday’s proceedings began with a hearing on Irelan’s motion for a directed verdict, which was denied. The court then advised Irelan of his right to testify or remain silent. Irelan chose not to take the witness stand.
The defense called Officer David Houser as a witness before both sides presented closing arguments and the jury received its instructions.
Jurors began deliberating at 10:38 Wednesday morning.
About 20 minutes later, the court received a note indicating jurors had mistakenly signed the wrong verdict form on the first count. After meeting with prosecutors, Irelan and standby counsel, the court provided the jury with new blank guilty and not-guilty verdict forms and instructions on how to correct the error.
At 11:13 a.m., the court was notified that the jury had reached verdicts on all eight counts.
Jurors returned to the courtroom at 11:25 and found Irelan guilty on Counts One through Eight. Judgments of guilty were entered on all eight counts.
The probation department has been ordered to prepare a pre-sentence investigation report.
Irelan is scheduled to return to Wabash County Circuit Court for sentencing on November 12th at 10:30 a.m.
Irelan was found guilty of stalking, cyberstalking, harassment through electronic communications and harassment by telephone. The charges stemmed from allegations involving his ex-wife, who told investigators she received hundreds of threatening phone calls and text messages.
