Christopher Peterson (serial killer)
Obadyah Ben-Yisrayl (born Christopher Dwayne Peterson January 20, 1969) is an American serial killer found guilty of committing four murders and acquitted on three other murder charges related to the "Shotgun Killer" spree in Indiana from October 30, 1990, to December 18, 1990.
Obadyah Ben-Yisrayl | |
|---|---|
IDOC mugshot (1994) | |
| Born | Christopher Dwayne Peterson 20 January 1969 Gary, Indiana, U.S. |
| Other names | The Shotgun Killer |
| Conviction(s) | Murder (4 counts) Attempted murder Armed robbery |
| Criminal penalty | Death; commuted to 120 years imprisonment |
| Details | |
| Victims | 4–7 |
Span of crimes | October 30 – December 18, 1990 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | Indiana |
The murders took place in a number of jurisdictions, and Peterson faced a number of trials in different venues. Peterson had initially confessed and then recanted. He was acquitted in two trials for three of the murders and found guilty of four murders in two subsequent trials. Initially sentenced to death for those murders, his death sentence was commuted in 2004. Ronald J. Harris was also charged and found guilty in two of the murders. He was sentenced to 90 years in prison
The incident is controversial for a number of reasons such as Peterson is African American, while the initial descriptions of the suspect of the murders was described as white; Peterson had been illegally arrested for committing another crime which impacted the use of evidence in the "Shotgun Killer" spree trials because it was deemed improperly collected; Peterson's initial confession was recanted under claims of duress; the trials with all-white juries came to different conclusions than juries which included people of other races; and in the final case to go to trial, the judge over-ruled the jury's decision not to impose the death penalty.