Request for new judge, special prosecutor rejected in case tied to Judge Meyer’s shooting
Special judge rejects Thomas Moss’ claims of bias, along with his demand for a special prosecutor as case heads for September trial.
The special judge assigned to cases revolving around the January attempted murder of Tippecanoe Superior Court Judge Steve Meyer on Friday rejected a request for a new judge from the man accused of being at the center of the plot.
Cass County Superior Court 2 Judge Lisa Swaim wrote in an order issued Friday, July 10, that “the facts do not support a rational inference of bias or prejudice” Moss’ attorneys contended, as they looked to get a new special judge who they argued wouldn’t side so readily with the prosecution.
Swaim also rejected Moss’ motion for a special prosecutor, after his attorneys argued that the Tippecanoe County Prosecutor’s Office was too personally invested and professionally intertwined with Meyer and his court to handle the case properly or fairly.
Swaim wrote that Moss’ arguments did not “sufficiently establish an actual conflict of interest” for the county’s prosecutors.
As of Saturday, court records did not show a filing with an immediate response from Moss’ attorneys. Attorneys, suspects, their families and potential witnesses in the case are under a gag order that prevents them from commenting outside the court setting.
Moss is one of four people charged with multiple felony counts in an alleged conspiracy that led to the attempted murder of Steve Meyer, his wife, Kim, and a main witness investigators say was targeted in an effort to stop her from testifying and upend a trial that had been set for Moss on a set of felony charges in Meyer’s court.
The others charged include: Raylen Ferguson, a 38-year-old Lexington, Kentucky, man accused of pulling the trigger and shooting the Meyers through the front door of their Lafayette home on Jan. 18; Blake Smith, 32, of Dayton, who is accused of buying and altering the gun used to shoot the Meyers; and Nevaeh Bell, 23, of Lafayette, who prosecutors say helped with details of the plan to keep Moss from going to trial and potentially to prison.
Moss is scheduled to go to trial on both cases starting Sept. 9.
The case for a change in judge: In May, Moss wrote a letter to Swaim, asking her to recuse herself and accusing her of being biased for the prosecution in his case. His attorneys, Andrew Baldwin and Michael Cunningham, backed that up with a separate motion to have Swaim recuse herself. Among their complaints were contentions that Swaim had aggressively challenged their arguments during pretrial hearings while not giving similar treatment to the prosecution; stalling on motions about conditions tied to bond and to a request for a special prosector filed by Moss while moving swiftly without “legal, factual or intellectual curiosity” in favor of those brought by prosecutors; and undercutting how they presented the defense during court hearings.
