Bail set at $50K for man charged
in 1980 Hammond officer shooting
A Gary man charged a second time in the fatal shooting of a Hammond police officer more than 30 years ago had his bail set Monday.
James Hill, 53, was arrested Sept. 2 for the second time and pleaded not guilty to charges in connection with the death of Officer Larry Pucalik, who was shot and killed during an attempted robbery Nov. 14, 1980, while working a side security job at a Holiday Inn in Hammond.
Defense and prosecuting attorneys discussed Hill's bail Monday, and it was set at $50,000 with a nearly $5,000 bond posted later that day, according to court records.
Hill was originally charged in 2012, but his charges were later dismissed for further investigation. Charges of murder, murder in perpetration of robbery and attempted robbery were refiled earlier this year for Hill with his recent arrest.
Two other men, Pierre Catlett and Larry Mayes, were charged along with Hill when the case made its first appearance.
Catlett, 66, is awaiting extradition while serving an unrelated prison sentence in Illinois, and the case against Mayes, 67, was dismissed in December 2014 after he was deemed incompetent to stand trial.
It is a case that has stayed with those close to it over the years, including the officers who worked with Pucalik, as well as Hill's family, as they watch this new case play out.
Hill's sister-in-law, Moniqueka Hardaway, questioned the timing of Hill's new charges being refiled. Hill has a civil case against the city of Hammond and a detective from another 1980 case in which a Hammond gas station employee was robbed and raped a little over a month before the shooting death of Pucalik.
After serving more than a decade behind bars in that case, Hill had his conviction cleared in 2009.
Hearings and any potential settlement conference in that civil case were postponed in light of Hill's recent arrest, and will continue to wait until his criminal case is resolved, according to court documents.
Hill is scheduled to be back in Lake County court Dec. 1 for another hearing, and his jury trial is set for early January.
PREVIOUS ARTICLE
