An Indiana homeowner accused of killing a house cleaner was charged Monday with voluntary manslaughter in a case that raises questions about the limits of stand-your-ground laws.
Curt Anderson could face up to 10 to 30 years in prison if he’s convicted and a $10,000 fine. Guy Relford, an attorney for the homeowner, did not respond to a voice message seeking comment ahead of the charging decision.
Officers found Maria Florinda Rios Perez De Velasquez, 32, dead on the front porch of a home in Whitestown, an Indianapolis suburb, on Nov. 5. Authorities said the immigrant from Guatemala was part of a cleaning crew that had gone to the wrong house.
Her husband told media outlets that he was with her on the porch and someone fired through the front door. He didn’t realize that she had been shot until she fell back into his arms, bleeding.
Indiana is one of 31 states with a stand-your-ground law that permits homeowners to use deadly force to stop someone they believe is trying to unlawfully enter their dwelling. But police said that there’s no evidence the woman entered the home before she was shot.
The case echoes a similar episode in Missouri in 2023 when an 86-year-old man shot Ralph Yarl after the 16-year-old Black teenager came to his door by mistake. Missouri has a similar stand-your-ground law, but prosecutors charged the shooter, Andrew Lester, with first-degree assault and armed criminal action. He ultimately pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and didn’t go to trial.
In New York, which does not have a stand-your-ground law, a man was convicted in 2024 of second-degree murder for fatally shooting a woman inside a car who mistakenly came down the driveway of his rural upstate home.
Jody Madeira, an Indiana University law professor who specializes in gun rights, said last week that the Rios case was “horrible” and “exceptionally unusual.”
For the shooter to get stand-your-ground immunity, she said, he would have to prove that he thought he was in imminent danger and that any other reasonable person would feel the same way in that situation.
In general, the public can legally access private property — including a front porch — for a legitimate purpose until they are told to leave, Madeira said. For example, a homeowner can’t legally shoot a pizza delivery person or an Amazon driver just for stepping onto their property, she said.
Richmond writes for the Associated Press.
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