They Deserved The Money

That a great society program designed to help the poor instead ends up allegedly enriching its administrators and cronies without doing much to alleviate the social ills it was supposed to correct is almost so commonplace that it isn't really newsworthy in Northwest Indiana.

So it isn't any surprise to read in the Northwest Indiana Times that attorneys for officials on trial for a alleged misdeeds related to a GUEA -- the Gary Urban Enterprise Association -- building sale say this:

Three Gary men took $150,000 of the $200,000 sale price of a building they didn't own because they deserved the money, their defense lawyers argued in court Monday.

The men -- County Councilman Will Smith Jr., tax collector Roosevelt Powell, and attorney Willie Harris -- had to work together in 2001 to sell a vacant grocery store to the Gary Urban Enterprise Association, attorneys said during the first day of the first GUEA fraud case to go to trial.

GUEA Gary Urban Enterprise Association trial Northwest Indiana politics

Mom Takes Evidence Needed For Son's Appeal

The mother of a criminal defendant has taken the court's official record and physical evidence in her son's trial and refuses to give it back back to the court-- even though she's in jail for contempt and her son's attorney needs the evidence to prepare for an appeal.

Marcia Oddi at Indiana Law Blog covers the continuing saga.

Opines the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette:

Now, the clock is ticking on Daniel Favela’s new attorney to file an appeal – which requires the official record. The accuracy of a re-created record will pose significant questions for the Indiana Court of Appeals.

Whatever is motivating Adela Favela from returning the record, with luck she will come to understand that this matter involves not just her son but the integrity of the court’s record-keeping system.

While the case isn't happening in the South Shore Region, it promises to result in changes statewide that will affect the way the courts operate in Northwest Indiana and around the state.

Indiana courts Allen County Fort Wayne trial