‘Test jury’ considered in trials tied to attempted murder of Tippecanoe Co. judge
Three of four people charged in alleged conspiracy argue there’s no way to get a fair trial with a local jury. Judge assigned to the case says she’s open to option, but wants the trial in Lafayette.
Support for this edition of Based in Lafayette comes from the Wabash River Cycle Club. On Saturday, Aug. 22, the Wabash River Ride will start from Fort Ouiatenon with routes reaching into Warren and Fountain counties. Starting with a 16-mile “ride-for-all,” and increasing distances to 32, 62 and 100 miles, there are distances for everyone. There are routes for road bikers and gravel grinders, and the bike tour is fully supported with well-stocked SAG (support and gear) stops, mobile support and two yummy food trucks supplying a post-ride meal until 5:30 p.m. The Wabash River Ride is truly your adventure, your choice. More information at www.wabashriverride.com
‘TEST JURY’ CONSIDERED IN TRIALS TIED TO ATTEMPTED MURDER OF TIPPECANOE CO. JUDGE
A Cass County judge assigned to cases tied to an alleged conspiracy that led to the Jan. 18 attempted murders of Tippecanoe Superior Court Judge Steve Meyer and his wife, Kim, sounded reluctant Thursday about moving trials out of Tippecanoe County, where the shootings happened.
But, facing requests for a change of venue from three of the four people charged, Judge Lisa Swaim said she was open to a defense attorney’s suggestion to bring in a test jury pool before the trials started to see whether an impartial jurors could be found in a crime that garnered high-profile media coverage and where the victims were well-known in the community.
Short of that, Swaim said she also was open to doing a court-approved survey to gauge sentiment in the community. She also said it might be possible to select jurors from another county and bring them to Tippecanoe County for the length of the trial – a tactic used when jurors from Allen County were brought 90 miles to Delphi for the murder trial of Richard Allen in 2024.
Swaim wasn’t open, though, to taking results at face value from an online survey commissioned by three of the defendants’ attorneys – one the judge in May ordered to be taken down after prosecutors objected as it made the rounds for five days this spring.
It also was a survey a consultant who designed it testified showed a lean toward those who had already made up their minds.
Attorneys for three of the four charged with attempted murder – Thomas Moss, 43, of Lafayette; Blake Smith, 32, of Dayton; and Raylen Ferguson, a 38-year-old Lexington, Kentucky, man accused of pulling the trigger and shooting the Meyers through their front door – said they were looking for answers soon.
“We don’t have to wait until we get into jury selection to figure this out,” Denise Turner, an attorney for Smith, said toward the end of a Thursday afternoon devoted to change of venue arguments. “I think with three co-defendants, we’re talking about a monumental waste of time and resources if we wait and bring in however many people just to find out what we already know today – which is that these men cannot get a fair trial, that they will not have 12 unbiased, impartial jurors.”
Moss, Smith and Ferguson, along with 23-year-old Nevaeh Bell of Lafayette, each have been charged with multiple felony counts, including attempted murder, in an alleged attempt to delay a trial Moss faced in Steve Meyer’s court two days after the shooting.
Thursday’s hearing centered on testimony from Doug Kouns, whose Indianapolis-based company, Veracity IIR, distributed the survey that asked people on social media to weigh in on whether they believed defendants in the alleged plot were guilty.
Attorneys for Moss, Smith and Ferguson had argued in May, when it was ordered shut down, that the idea was to “answer the depth of prejudice” stirred by media coverage and social media commentary in the county before calling a local jury pool. Prosecutors had argued that the survey’s format skewed things from the start, including a photo array that had the picture of one person who had already been convicted in another, loosely related crime and another was no longer charged.
Kouns said the survey showed that 55% of the 598 people who responded already had formed opinions about guilt in the cases. He said that of more than 7,000 comments reviewed about the shooting and the arrests that followed, 83% “reflected presumptions of guilt.”
“Bottom line is, based on all the data that we gathered and analyzed, there are substantial concerns regarding the ability to seat an unbiased and impartial jury in Tippecanoe County,” Kouns said.
Deputy prosecutor Cassidy Laux pushed Kouns about the accuracy of his survey techniques.
Laux said the survey didn’t attempt to get at a key question required in change of venue requests, about proving the inability of jurors to render an impartial verdict. During jury selection, he said, potential jurors would be asked whether they could set aside what they knew about the case and consider the testimony presented.
Laux also pressed in about how Kouns knew that those who took the survey were Tippecanoe County residents and what sort of affect comments from internet trolls had on this social media analysis.
Laux argued that with the survey, the defense had perpetuated the kind of prejudicial pretrial publicity about the crime and those charged that they were trying to prove was unfair.
“I agree, we should want a fair jury,” Laux said. “So then, why are you putting your finger on the scale? Because that’s what this survey did. … You are prohibited from putting this in front of a jury, and you did it anyway.”
Laux also argued that the court had been able to seat a jury in the case of Amanda Milsap, a Lafayette woman convicted in April of bribery in a part of the alleged plot before it got to the point of targeting the judge. In that trial, Swaim called a backup pool from her home Cass County in case jury selection didn’t work out in Tippecanoe County.
Michael Cunningham, Moss’ attorney, argued that media reporting, starting with the arrests, began with accounts coming from investigators and prosecutors. That included a press conference by the prosecutor and law enforcement officials that featured body-worn footage of the arrests.
“I do take great exception with the state’s characterization that the defense is somehow attempting to tip the scales or put our finger on the scales,” Cunningham said. “Let’s be very clear about how the prejudicial pretrial publicity started. It was not the media. The media reported on what the state put out.”
Turner pointed to media reports that included references to Smith facing habitual offender charges. She said Smith, who had no criminal record, would start a trial at a disadvantage. (See more below.)
“There shouldn’t be any fight about this, if there’s any thought at all that the jury might not be impartial or that we can’t pick an impartial jury,” David Shircliff, an attorney for Ferguson, said. “This really shouldn’t be a hot topic. It should be agreed on. We should get out of the county of a well-known judge, well-identified political figure who has deep roots and where people know about the case.”
Swaim held off on ruling Thursday on the change of venue, giving all sides a chance to make additional arguments and propose ways to handle a potential test jury.
In related coverage …
Swaim delayed a ruling on Moss’ motion for a change of judge, as well as on requests for a special prosecutor. She said she would issue those in the coming days.
Swaim loosened conditions tied to Smith’s $3 million cash and $2 million surety bond, allowing him three hours out of his cell each day to access the jail’s law library. Like the others charged in the crime, he has been held isolated from other inmates and not allowed to make calls other than to his attorney. Swaim stopped short of allowing him to take calls from his parents or his children, as his attorney had requested more than a month ago. “I am not willing to change that at this time because I am concerned about the safety of others, and so I want to try to make sure that there’s not a problem between now and the trial,” Swaim said. Turner said she wasn’t sure that allowing Smith to speak to his family “would have any effect on the integrity of the trial.” Swaim – alluding to recent charges added to Moss’ case after he was accused to making calls to try to line up stories with others accused in the conspiracy – said she was willing to consider the request with assurances that calls could be adequately monitored.
Editor’s note: One of those articles singled out during Thursday’s testimony referencing Ferguson as facing habitual offender charges came from a Jan. 22 edition Based in Lafayette, later published by The Indiana Citizen. During arguments in court, it was a mention that made Smith’s trial unfair from the very start or an obscure reference from “some unknown online something or another,” depending on who was making the case Thursday afternoon. Smith’s attorney, Denise Turner, called it one of many reports about the habitual offender charge. That information was reported based on a release by the Lafayette Police Department, the day five people, including Smith, were arrested. That initial release included that Smith faced a charge of being a habitual offender. When charges were unsealed later, that wasn’t case. The Jan. 22 edition of Based in Lafayette has been corrected and updated to reflect that.
Thanks, again, for support for this edition from the Wabash River Cycle Club, presenting the Wabash River Ride Saturday, Aug. 22. Sign up or get more information at www.wabashriverride.com.
Thank you for supporting Based in Lafayette, an independent, local reporting project. Free and full-ride subscription options are ready for you here.
Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.