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Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Ind. Courts - More on: "Fight delays manslaughter trial"
Updating this ILB entry from yesterday, Rebecca S. Green and Jeff Wiehe of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette report today:
A brawl in a hallway of the Allen County Courthouse sent two people to the hospital, four people to jail and caused a nearly five-month postponement of a manslaughter trial Monday morning.A Courthouse maintenance worker scrubbed blood off the tile floor and swept up clumps of hair outside the Allen Circuit Court room, while prosecutors and defense attorneys came up with a new date for William Shoemaker's trial on charges of voluntary manslaughter and criminal recklessness. * * *
The blood, hair and a lingering odor of pepper spray in the Courthouse hallway were the only tangible evidence of the fistfight that occurred about 30 minutes earlier when Shoemaker's family and friends gathered alongside the Garcia family outside the courtroom. Police said family members of the victim mistook one of Shoemaker's relatives for Shoemaker, which may have led to the fight. * * *
When Allen Superior Judge John Surbeck resumed the court session late Monday morning, both sides agreed to delay the trial until January.
While potential jurors were assembled on the first floor of the Courthouse, two floors away from the fight, the ruckus was audible to most in the expansive building and likely heard by the jury pool.
Surbeck said that could have cast doubt on any verdict by the jury and reset the trial to Jan. 26, with a pretrial conference in mid-December. The "extraordinarily unusual" commotion was unlike anything Surbeck had seen in his years around the Courthouse as either a judge or an attorney.
He was quick to offer praise to the Allen County police officers who provide security in the building and who broke up the fight.
Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 26, 2008 08:19 AM
Posted to Indiana Courts