BROWN COUNTY, Ind. -- An Indiana appeals court has upheld the conviction and sentence of a man found guilty of murdering an Indiana University student in 2015.
Daniel Messel, 51, is serving an 80-year-sentence after he was found guilty last fall in the murder of Hannah Wilson. He was sentenced to 60 years for the murder and another 20 years for being a habitual offender.
In Messel's appeal which was filed back in April, his attorney argued that the sentence handed down by a Brown County Judge was "unfair and excessive."
Last week, a judge denied Messel's request to appear in-person during his court hearings, saying there was no reason for him to be present unless a major issue was of discussion.
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Wilson was a senior at IU when her body was found in a vacant lot in Brown County in 2015. Messel’s phone was found lying nearby, and investigators found her blood, hair and DNA in Messel’s 2012 Kia SUV.
A coroner later determined that Wilson had died from blunt force trauma to her head.
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