John Myers was found guilty of the murder of IU student and Bloomington native Jill Behrman in 2006.
(Courtesy of the Monroe County Sheriff's Office)
A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that John Myers, the man convicted of killing Bloomington resident Jill Behrman, will remain in prison until his appeal in the fall.
A U.S. District Court judge vacated Myers' murder conviction last year, ruling that he had "received ineffective counsel" in his 2006 trial and ordering Myers' release from Indiana State Prison.
Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill appealed the decision, but in May an appeals court ruled that Myers should be released from prison until the state's appeal was heard later in the year.
In response, Hill filed an emergency motion on June 5 to prevent Myers' release, claiming the district court exceeded its authority when it vacated the murder conviction and ordered Myers be released from prison.
The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals granted the state's motion in a ruling Wednesday, requiring Myers to stay behind bars until the resolution of the state's appeal instead of returning home to his mother's house in Ellettsville.
Behrman grew up in Bloomington. She was 19 when she disappeared on a bike ride in May of 2000. Police later identified several suspects and drained Salt Creek in Monroe County after one of the suspects confessed.
But no body was found there and no one was charged at that time.
In 2003, Behrman's remains were found far from Salt Creek in a field in Morgan County. And in March 2006, a grand jury convened in Morgan County to look into the case.
In April of that year, Myers was charged with the murder. He had not been one of the earlier suspects. Investigators concluded that Myers killed her out of anger over a failed relationship with a girlfriend.
Sara Wittmeyer, Bob Zaltsberg and the Associated Press contributed to this story.
