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Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Ind. Courts - Update on the case of the mother who took the court records
Updating this continuing story - for background start with this Sept. 6 ILB entry - the AP reports this morning:
A woman jailed for refusing to return a 13-volume court record of her son's 2006 murder trial has rejected a judge's impassioned plea to turn them over."Give them back to the court, ma'am," Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull told Adela Favela, 58, on Monday during a hearing on the contempt of court charges that Favela faces.
Tuesday marked the 15th day that Favela had been behind bars over her refusal to produce the massive official record of her son's trial. The file includes transcripts of Daniel Favela's hearings, the trial and actual physical pieces of evidence related to the case.
Gull refuses to release Favela until she returns the documents, which were given this summer to Favela, who has claimed she paid more than $4,000 for them.
During Monday's hearing, Favela's defense attorney, Phil Terrill, asked the judge to release her for 72 hours so she could retrieve the file. Favela's 17-year-old daughter, Maria Favela, said she has been unable to find the files in her mother's home.
Maria Favela said after the hearing that she believed her mother might be trying to protect her brother by concealing the files.
Gull denied Favela's request to leave jail to find the files out of concern that she might destroy documents.
"She knows where they're at, and she won't even tell her daughter," Gull said. "This is so, so simple ... Mrs. Favela, tell Mr. Terrill where the transcript is so I can let you go."
Speaking through a translator, Adela Favela said she paid for the files, signing pieces of paper that said the documents would be hers.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on September 11, 2007 10:57 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts