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Sunday, August 06, 2006

Ind. Courts - Still more on: South Bend Osco Triple Murder Trial

On July 10 the ILB had an entry that began: "The ILB generally doesn't cover murder trials, but ...". The entry pointed out that this was Allen's third trial. His first trial ended in a hung jury. Then, "In 2002, he was convicted of killing Tracy Holvoet, Connie Zalewski and Scott Dick, but the Indiana Court of Appeals set aside that conviction, saying evidence was wrongly excluded in the case" (quoting from South Bend WNDU 16). The entry, in the final sentence, noted that the South Bend Tribune had published a profile of one of the jurors, Juror No. 12, even before the new trial began.

On July 20th the ILB posted an entry quoting from a Tribune story headlined "Second hung jury for man accused of killing 3 in South Bend." The story noted: "The St. Joseph County prosecutor in the early 1990s, Michael Barnes, did not bring charges in the case. Allen was charged by then-Prosecutor Christopher Toth in 1999."

Today, this Tribune opinion piece is headlined "Should there be a fourth trial?" It begins:

We do not know whether St. Joseph County should try Christopher Allen for the fourth time on charges that in 1990 he brutally murdered three employees of the Osco drugstore on Western Avenue.

We do know that it will be a very difficult decision for Prosecutor Michael Dvorak.

And we are certain that the decision should not be treated as a political issue in the upcoming race for St. Joseph County prosecutor.

All three trials were conducted in New Castle, Ind., in Henry County, by special prosecutors. The first trial, in 2001, ended in a hung jury. Allen was convicted in the second trial, in 2002, but the conviction was overturned by the Indiana Court of Appeals. The most recent trial ended on July 20 with a hung jury.

St. Joseph County would have to pay the cost of a fourth trial, as it has the first three. That would include the cost of Allen's defense attorneys. It would be expensive, but we think that is the least of the considerations facing Dvorak.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 6, 2006 02:39 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts