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Thursday, May 21, 2009

Ind. Courts - "Pastrick civil trial likely called off"

Updating this ILB entry from earlier today, Dan Hinkel of the NWI Times reports:

HAMMOND | A lawyer for former East Chicago Mayor Robert Pastrick has filed papers in Hammond federal court seeking to cancel a civil trial set to start Tuesday.

Attorney Mike Bosch filed an application for a default judgment against Pastrick and codefendant James Fife III. The filing indicates Pastrick and Fife are "no longer able to otherwise defend" the state of Indiana's lawsuit seeking to hold the men responsible for $24 million spent in the sidewalks-for-votes scandal that preceded the 1999 Democratic primary.

The filing would scratch a highly anticipated civil trial pending since former Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter filed the suit in 2004.

The default judgment would leave Senior Judge James Moody to decide what Pastrick and Fife would have to pay.

Attorney General Greg Zoeller has said he didn't expect to collect the full $24 million from the defendants. It remains unclear what assets Pastrick and Fife have.

Starting Tuesday, state lawyers planned to use the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, to hold Pastrick and his codefendants financially responsible for the spending scandal that snared the Sidewalk Six, a group of city officials convicted in federal court in the concrete-for-votes scheme. Neither Pastrick nor Fife was charged criminally in the matter.

The NWI Times has also posted a copy of the 63-page complaint filed by AG Carter in 2004.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on May 21, 2009 05:10 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts