Man sentenced to over 100 years in prison in Evansville murder case

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - Brandon Artis, who was found guilty of an August murder, was sentenced Wednesday to 101 years in the Indiana Department of Corrections.

After just over three hours of deliberation, a jury found Artis guilty of felony murder for the killing of Trey McGillicuddy last month.

[Previous Story: Verdict reached in second trial for man accused of murder]

The jury also found Artis guilty of armed robbery and two counts of intimidation.

Just hours after his sentencing, 14 News sat down with Artis for an interview.

In it, he insisted that he was innocent.

On Aug. 27, both the Vanderburgh County Circuit Court and Brandon Artis agree that Trey McGillicuddy was killed after a drug deal with Artis.

“I wasn’t there when he was killed, but I heard the first shot,” he said.

Artis claimed that he had been selling pills to McGillicuddy when a third man entered the home with a gun. Artis said the man demanded money and snatched a necklace from his neck.

When 14 News interviewed McGillicuddy’s fiancée Sessily Bruner, who witnessed the murder, she only said there were two people present.

“There was a man in front of [Trey] with a gun,” she said. “Trey had the baby in his arms, and he and the man were going back and forth. Trey said, ‘Don’t do this I got kids.’ He put the baby down, and the man started shooting.”

Police eventually arrested Artis based on her testimony and evidence on both McGillicuddy and Artis’s phones.

“Never once in the discovery or the affidavit was anybody able to identify me on either occasion,” Artis claimed.

However, the affidavit says Bruner knew the offender as “Big Truck,” which was found to be a contact in Trey’s phone for Artis.

14 News asked him if he got a look at the supposed shooter he said stole the necklace off his neck.

“I didn’t get a clear look but I did see dreadlocks, and I did see some gold teeth in his mouth,” Arits said.

He claimed gold teeth and leg tattoos were used by witnesses to describe the shooter in the trial.

Those descriptions are absent from the affidavit that describes the offender as a heavy-set man with braided hair around his shoulders and short beard that connects his chin sideburns and mouth.

Artis said he plans to appeal the court’s ruling.

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