The Indiana Court of Appeals upheld a Merrillville man’s conviction and 100-year sentence Tuesday for killing his wife’s former boyfriend’s friend with a tow truck.
In a 3-0 decision, Appeals Judge Elizabeth Tavitas wrote there was enough evidence to convict and that the sentence was appropriate after looking at Maximilliono Farias’ character.
A jury convicted Farias, now 40, in April of murder and attempted murder in the May 16, 2022 death of John Garner, 19. He can appeal the ruling to the Indiana Supreme Court. His earliest release date is in 2097.
Evidence showed Farias, a tow truck driver, was going about 33 miles per hour and video showed he didn’t brake or try to avoid Cameron Prince, the ex-boyfriend, or Garner, before fleeing, Tavitas wrote.
Merrillville Police were called around 7 p.m. to Sheffield’s Sportsbar and Restaurant parking lot, 1515 E. 82nd Ave., for a reported crash. Garner was lying in the south parking lot.
Investigators suspected his wife Dezarae Farias initially lied to them before she admitted the relationship with Prince. She lied to police because she was “scared of losing” Farias, she told police, according to court records.
She and Farias had an abusive relationship in the past and he punched her in the face in a Walmart parking lot earlier that day, she told police.
They were headed to Jimmy John’s near Sheffield’s when Farias recognized Prince and swung toward Sheffield’s parking lot, she said.
She said Farias was driving between 20 to 30 mph before he hit Garner, charges allege. She believed Farias was trying to “scare” Prince.
She told police Farias blamed her that he “killed an innocent person” because of her relationship with Prince, court records show.
