The Indiana Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a Gary man’s conviction in May for shooting his ex-girlfriend and killing her new boyfriend in February 2017.

However, it asked Judge Gina Jones to clarify the gun charge she meant in his sentence.

In a 3-0 decision, Appeals Judge Leanna Weissmann wrote the evidence stacked up to convict Anthony Day, now 57. He is serving a 107-year sentence.

Authorities accused Day of showing up uninvited to his ex-girlfriend’s Gary home on Feb. 10, 2017, shooting her in the collarbone, then killing Ajohnte Griffin, 36, of East Chicago, after the woman had run out the door.

Day’s first trial ended in a mistrial in 2019. At the second trial in May, the ex-girlfriend didn’t show after multiple subpoenas. Deputy Prosecutor Maureen Koonce and colleagues read out her previous 2019 trial testimony.

He argued prosecutors could have done more to find her, such as enlisting U.S. Marshals, or tracking her cell phone; it denied him a chance to confront his accuser.

Weissmann wrote prosecutors made “extensive efforts” to find her. Their investigators taped subpoenas at multiple addresses and reached only one relative, who claimed she didn’t have an active phone number.

Reading the testimony had been allowed in other cases for less effort, she wrote.

Lawyer Scott King, who represented Day at both trials, cross-examined her in the first trial, which the jury heard the transcript, Weissmann added.

Day also argued hearsay was allowed in the trial. The woman told police right afterward that she feared Day would go kill her mother and daughter. It was allowed in an “excited utterance” exception.

Weissmann wrote the jury heard enough evidence to paint the picture of Day’s guilt.

“I’ve been wanting to do this,” he said, just before shooting the woman.

Day also contested the woman’s account, saying she didn’t see who shot Griffin. Weissmann wrote that the woman saw who shot her; her account wasn’t based on conjecture.

His brother also speculated to the police why they were at his house. — “I guess looking for (him).”

Weissmann countered that allowing jurors to know both bits of information were “harmless.”

She asked Jones to clarify Day’s gun charge. At sentencing, Jones said it was an enhancement — a punitive add-on that tacks more time on a prison term — while the actual charge was possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon.

Weissmann did not appear to contest the prison time he got for that charge — 12 years.

mcolias@post-trib.com