BROWNSTOWN — A Warsaw carnival worker accused of killing a co-worker in July 2021 on the midway at the Jackson County Fair has been found guilty of voluntary manslaughter.

A 12-member Jackson Circuit Court jury returned with that verdict Thursday evening against 33-year-old Zachariah David Konkle after more than two hours of deliberations.

Voluntary manslaughter is a Level 2 felony punishable by 10 to 30 years in prison.

Konkle had been charged with murder after a fight between him and Michael J. Steele, 42, during closing time at the fair on July 27, 2021. Both men reportedly worked for Poor Jack Amusements.

The fight occurred after a family attending the fair asked Konkle if he could find someone in charge because a carnival worker around the Long Shot game on the midway had made fun of their special needs child and wanted to file a complaint, according to court records.

On Thursday morning, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Mark Hollingsworth called Mark Holt, a detective with the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department at the time of the incident, to testify on his findings related to the case.

Holt testified he received two phone calls from county Officer Jordan Hawn, who testified earlier in the trial, about the incident between Steele and Konkle and that Steele was being transported to Schneck Medical Center in Seymour for his injuries.

Holt arrived at Schneck shortly afterwards and was hoping to speak to Steele about what had happened. Holt said he was not able to talk to Steele because he was in a coma as the medical professionals assessed the situation.

Holt then went to the scene of the incident at the fairgrounds, and after gathering an idea of the scene, he traveled to the nearby sheriff’s department to interview Konkle.

In the video, Konkle told Holt that Steele confronted and hit him first. Konkle then said Steele went to tackle him to the ground by his knees.

Konkle told Holt he grabbed Steele’s arms and tried to pin his arms underneath of Steele’s body, while Konkle laid his chest on top of Steele’s back.

Konkle told Holt once he heard Steele gasping for air and others telling him to stop, he got off of Steele.

Before the fight, Holt asked about the original individual Konkle confronted on the matter of the special needs child. Konkle said he only had a verbal altercation with the other individual and that nothing physical came of it.

Konkle also told police he did not remember what he said to Steele during the altercation but did admit he has anger issues.

Konkle also told Holt that at one point in time, he was on medication for bipolar disorder and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder but ran out of medication and was not able to obtain it again due to insurance complications.

During the interview, Konkle stated he would not have been able to live with himself if he knew he killed someone.

After the video footage of Konkle’s confession, the state brought up a video call between Konkle and another individual that was recorded in April 2022.

During the video call, Konkle mentioned he “beat up” two people in one night, and the state mentioned in its opening statement a grinning expression on Konkle’s face during the video call.

The state rested its case around noon Thursday with one more witness testimony that will be called upon by Konkle’s public defender, Jeremy Braunstein.

Poynter gave both sides 40 minutes for closing arguments and then members of the jury went into deliberation.