Court orders defense attorneys to take down survey connected to attempted murder of Judge Meyer
Attorneys for Thomas Moss, at the center of an alleged plot to kill the judge, told to stop a social media questionnaire looking to gauge whether trials should be moved outside Tippecanoe County
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COURT ORDERS DEFENSE ATTORNEYS TO TAKE DOWN SURVEY CONNECTED TO ATTEMPTED MURDER OF JUDGE MEYER
A judge ordered attorneys for a man charged in connection with the attempted murder of Tippecanoe Superior Court 2 Judge Steve Meyer to pull the plug on an online survey circulating in the past week, asking people to weigh on in on whether they believed defendants in an alleged plot were guilty.
An attorney for Thomas Moss, a Lafayette man arrested in January for his alleged role in the attempted murder scheme, said in court Tuesday that the survey was meant to build evidence for a request for a change of venue, moving his trial out of Tippecanoe County where the case generated heavy media coverage.
Mike Cunningham, one of Moss’ appointed public defenders, said the Survey Monkey questionnaire was sent out by Indianapolis-based Veracity IIR and posted on social media in an agreement between attorneys defending three of the four people accused of playing parts in the Jan. 18 attempted murder of Steve Meyer, and his wife, Kim Meyer at their Lafayette home.
Cunningham told Cass Superior Court 2 Judge Lisa Swaim – the judge assigned to oversee trials connected in some way to the case – that the idea was to “answer the depth of prejudice” in the county before calling a local jury pool.
Swaim chastised Cunningham Tuesday afternoon.
She said a survey to determine whether a neutral jury can be found in Tippecanoe County might wind up being a good idea. But Swaim said the defense attorneys should have come to the court to clear the questions and other parameters first.
The survey that went out might already have done damage, Swaim said.
