The Indiana Court of Appeals has rejected a request to overturn the murder conviction of a Hammond man who killed a woman after attending a concert with her and attempted to hide her body at an Illinois nature preserve.
James E. McGhee Jr., 41, was sentenced in December to 80 years in prison for the July 2019 slaying of 27-year-old Sidne-Nichole Buchanan, and for being a habitual offender, according to court records.
Records show McGhee and Buchanan attended a Wiz Khalifa concert in Tinley Park, Illinois, where they had an initial altercation with McGhee pushing Buchanan into a vehicle.
Instead of taking Buchanan home afterward, McGhee brought Buchanan to his apartment, "lost it" in a jealous rage, and jumped on Buchanan's neck until she was dead. He subsequently stuffed Buchanan's body into a suitcase and dumped it at the Thornton-Lansing Road Nature Preserve, according to court records.
Records show Buchanan's family repeatedly reached out to McGhee when Buchanan didn't return home only to be falsely told by McGhee that he dropped Buchanan off at her home.
That spurred Buchanan's mother to file a missing person report with the Gary Police Department and an FBI task force promptly took over the investigation into Buchanan's disappearance, according to court records.
Records show the FBI immediately obtained cell phone location records for McGhee and Buchanan showing their devices both were located at McGhee's apartment during the overnight hours following the concert.
The FBI then secured a search warrant for McGhee's apartment, where they found Buchanan's blood and evidence of recent attempts to hastily clean the apartment. They also learned from an informant where McGhee took Buchanan's body, according to court records.
In his appeal, McGhee argued the trial court erred by allowing his cell-phone location data to be admitted as evidence because it was obtained without a warrant.
The appeals court, in a 3-0 decision, said the exigent circumstances of the case, including Buchanan's status as a missing person for more than 48 hours and that she last was with a person having a criminal history of violence toward women, justified the warrantless acquisition of McGhee's cell-phone location data.
Moreover, any intrusion on McGhee's constitutional rights only was moderate because his phone records were obtained from his wireless provider, a third-party, and McGhee was not obligated to surrender his phone to authorities for the search, the court said.
The court also denied McGhee's claim that prosecutors failed to bring him to trial in a sufficiently speedy time frame after determining the delay, due to the temporary unavailability of an essential witness, was authorized by state law.
McGhee still can ask the Indiana Supreme Court review his case and consider overturning his murder conviction.
Otherwise, his earliest possible release date from prison, assuming good behavior, is Dec. 10, 2080, according to the Indiana Department of Correction.