A 27-year-old Bloomington man has been found guilty of murdering a 23-year-old Bloomington man who was found shot to death along a rural road just inside Owen County.
An Owen County jury on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, convicted Quentin Lamont Porter Jr., 27, of murdering Malik Sims in 2024.
The jury deliberated for about three hours following a trial that began July 21.
The prosecution presented 39 witnesses and 176 exhibits, including crime-scene photographs and images from Flock cameras and businesses, said Vicki Tarrence, chief court reporter.
Tarrence said the defense presented one exhibit, a copy of a Snapchat conversation. Porter did not testify, and no witnesses testified on his behalf.
Sims' body was discovered in July 2024 near a wooded area just off a rural Owen County road not far from the Monroe County line.
The jury also convicted Porter of felony counts of auto theft and identity deception and two misdemeanor counts of theft.
Owen County Prosecutor Benjamin Kim declined to comment because sentencing was still pending. Owen County Chief Public Defender Jacob Fish and his chief deputy, Megan Schueler, did not respond to phone and email inquiries. They were not in their office at the courthouse mid-afternoon Thursday.
Porter Jr. initially was to have been tried in January, but the trial had to be postponed because of a shortage of jurors. Just 31 of the 120 residents summoned for jury duty showed up on Jan. 20.
Sims, a 2019 Bloomington High School South graduate, was remembered by friends and family members in 2024 as kind, respectful and devoted to those around him.
Jail officials said Porter Jr. was taken from Owen County Jail to Wabash Valley Correctional Facility Thursday morning. Court records show his sentencing has been scheduled for 1 p.m. Aug. 26.
Boris Ladwig can Be reached at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Owen County jury convicts Bloomington man in 2024 murder case