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Thursday, December 21, 2006

Ind. Decisions - More on "Case of slain girl sent back to judge"

Jon Murray of the Indianapolis Star reports this afternoon:

A Marion Superior Court judge said today he won't remove himself from the death-penalty case of a man accused of killing 12-year-old Christina Tedder nearly two years ago.

Judge Grant Hawkins rejected prosecutors' arguments that he should recuse himself from Jeffrey Voss' case because of a perception he is against the death penalty. Last month, the Indiana Supreme Court sent the matter back to Hawkins, ordering him to decide whether to recuse himself instead of delegating the decision to a special judge, as he had in May 2005.

Hawkins said his skepticism about the death penalty was well known, but "the jury makes the decision, not the judge. ... My job is to follow the jury's lead."

Today's hearing was the first since the high court's 5-0 ruling one month ago. Hawkins set a trial date for Jan. 28, 2008, and attorneys on both sides agreed the trial likely would last three weeks. They will meet after the holidays to work out a timeline for discovery, depositions and other pre-trial work.

Here is the Nov. 22nd ILB entry in Jeffrey Voss v. State of Indiana (Interlocutory Appeal from the Marion Superior Court).

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 21, 2006 04:15 PM
Posted to Ind. Sup.Ct. Decisions