A 22-year-old Merrillville man whose trial is set for the end of this month on a 2016 murder charge may see the date kicked further down the road.
Defense attorney Scott King told the Lake Superior Court on Wednesday that preparation for the William Landske case in August may interfere with his ability to give his full attention to the July 29 court date set for Garrett Smith.
Landske, charged with murder in the 2018 shooting death of T. Edward Page in Hobart, is set to go to trial Aug. 26, with a pretrial hearing of Aug. 1.
One of the issues King said he faces is a “huge volume of documents” he has requested from the Internal Revenue Service in reference to the Landske case.
“I’ve hired an accountant and am waiting for the IRS abstracts,” King said. “I’ll know more next week, but I may be filing a motion to continue.
“I don’t think (receiving the IRS documents) will be quick,” he said.
Deputy Prosecutor David Rooda entered an oral motion to resubmit a firearms charge to Smith’s case, to which King requested to submit a written objection. The court then set another pretrial hearing for July 10. Smith was charged with murder in the Dec. 2 killing of James Clark, 19, of Merrillville, who was shot in the area of 42nd Avenue and Kentucky Street in Gary.
Gary police found that Clark’s killing was linked to a Dec. 1 shooting near 11th Avenue and Jennings Street in Gary in which a man was shot in the thigh and right hand, according to court documents. Police compared spent .45-caliber shell casings from that scene to the homicide scene where Clark was killed and got a match, court records state.
In the Clark homicide, police learned from one of the victim’s relatives that the victim had been having a Facebook conversation with someone and that Clark had intended to meet the person to purchase a weapon from him, documents said. The relative provided police with a picture of the person Clark was to meet, and learned he had attended Merrillville High School. After checking with school authorities and the school resource officer, police identified the individual as Smith, documents said.
Police also spoke with a couple who had allowed Clark to stay with them for several months. The woman told police Clark said he was meeting with a guy named “Garrett” to buy a gun from him, but was uncomfortable with going by himself, records state. The man said he’d told Clark he would go with him, but it would have to be later in the afternoon. When the couple returned home, they discovered Clark was gone. Clark had not logged off his Facebook account, and police saw that he was conversing with a person identified as Smith, records state.
In addition to murder and aggravated battery, Smith also is charged in Lake Superior Court with battery resulting in serious bodily injury, battery by means of a deadly weapon and criminal recklessness, records state.
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