Indiana prosecutors say a change in state law allowed them to charge Michael Jerome James in the 2006 killings of 10-year-old Blake Dickus and his 26-year-old stepmother, Chynna Dickus, after years in which they say they could not bring the case to court. James was 14 at the time of the deaths and is now 35.
A grand jury indicted James on four murder counts, alleging the killings occurred during a burglary or attempted burglary at the family’s Franklin home. He appeared in Johnson Circuit Court on Oct. 8. James told the judge he did not yet have a lawyer but intended to hire one. The judge set Nov. 2 for a status hearing and gave him until that date to obtain counsel. James is being held without bond, and a pretrial conference is scheduled for Dec. 10.
Johnson County Prosecutor Lance Hamner said investigators had identified James as a suspect years earlier but could not proceed because of a gap in the state’s rules for cases involving alleged juvenile offenders. Indiana’s prior system generally assigned juvenile cases to juvenile courts. According to Hamner, authorities did not identify or charge James while he was a minor, raising questions about whether an adult court could take up alleged conduct from when he was 14 after he had turned 18.
The legislature created a new route in 2023 for adult courts to handle some cases involving serious crimes allegedly committed by juveniles. Hamner said the statute did not apply broadly to every violent offense and included conditions tied to whether adult prosecution could have been pursued while the person was still a juvenile. Indiana’s Court of Appeals rejected use of that law in a separate case involving child-molestation allegations, and the state Supreme Court agreed, Hamner said.
Hamner said prosecutors then worked with lawmakers on another measure, taking account of the courts’ concerns. A new statute passed in 2025 and, in the prosecutor’s view, supplied the mechanism to charge James. He said he was more confident this law would survive a challenge, while acknowledging that the outcome was not certain.
A criminal defense attorney, Mike Cunningham, offered a different view in comments to Fox 59 News. He argued that the law does not permit adult prosecution for conduct before the 2023 change because, in his view, people lacked adequate notice of that possibility. Whether James’s eventual defense lawyer challenges the court’s jurisdiction could determine whether the prosecution can proceed.
The killings took place inside the family’s home on Aberdeen Drive in Franklin. Investigators said both victims suffered multiple stab wounds. Blake also had blunt-force injuries and signs of smothering, according to the source material. His father, Sean Dickus, found the bodies after returning home. Blake’s mother, Christina Smith, had planned to pick him up that day. She later described severe injuries to her son’s hands and said she believed he had tried to defend himself.
Investigators pursued possible links to a series of nearby break-ins and questioned construction workers who were in the neighborhood around the time of the murders. Hamner described the inquiry as extensive but said it initially produced no suspect. He declined to say whether investigators thought a juvenile was responsible for the burglaries or whether James was connected to them.
Hamner was Johnson County prosecutor when the murders occurred, having first been elected in 1991. He left the office to become a judge in 2009. In 2021, he learned investigators believed they had made progress, though he did not disclose what led them to James. Hamner later returned to the prosecutor’s office, saying the case influenced that decision.
Authorities have released few details about the evidence behind the indictment. Franklin Police Capt. Jeff Dawe told WTHR that James was the first lead in the lengthy investigation supported by forensic evidence, but officials have not publicly identified the evidence or explained how it linked him to the killings. The indictment is an accusation, and the supplied reporting does not describe a conviction or the final resolution of the legal dispute.
