This and that for a Super Bowl Sunday
6th suspect in court in plot to shoot judge. West Side proposals for transfer students, PR firm for referendum. Lafayette Virtual Academy goes to LSC board. No charges for officers in Nov. shooting
Thanks to Stuart & Branigin for continued support of the Based in Lafayette reporting project.
Before we get going …
Correction, SK hynix Q&A: After a review of the translation provided during an interview with Choonhwan Kim, head of Global Infrastructure for SK hynix and now leading the company’s $3.87 billion semiconductor project in West Lafayette, a passage in a Q&A published Feb. 7 in Based in Lafayette has been corrected to reflect that the number of processes, rather than water usage, in a chip packaging fab planned in West Lafayette is 15% of those in front-end chip manufacturing done in South Korea.
To read the full interview, here’s a way in …
SIXTH SUSPECT IN ATTEMPTED MURDER OF JUDGE MEYER FACES MILLIONS IN BOND
Nevaeh Bell, 23, of Lafayette, will be held on a combination of $3 million cash and $2 million surety bonds after her arrest Wednesday on suspicion of 12 charges, including three counts of attempted murder, in a plot investigators say was aimed to kill Tippecanoe Superior Court 2 Judge Steve Meyer, his wife, Kim, and a witness scheduled to testify in a jury trial in his court.
Cass County Superior Court 2 Judge Lisa Swaim – assigned by the Indiana Supreme Court to oversee the cases of Bell and five other suspects – rejected a bond package of $20 million surety and $5 million cash proposed by the Tippecanoe County prosecutor’s office. But Swaim said during an initial hearing in her courtroom Friday morning that that the charges were serious enough to warrant a much higher than normal amount.
Bell told Swaim during Friday’s hearing that she intends to hire her own attorney. Bell and the other five charged are scheduled to be back in court March 5.
In new court documents unsealed last week, investigators say that Raylen Ferguson, the man accused of firing a short-barrel shotgun through the front door of Steve Meyer’s Lafayette home Jan. 18, admitted his role in a plot that initially included breaking into the house, having his wife, Kim, zip-tie the judge before killing him and leaving a note – all in an attempt to stop a jury trial set to start two days later for fellow suspect Thomas Moss, 43, of Lafayette.
According to court documents, Bell is Moss’ girlfriend and was part of coming up with the scheme, including being the one who confirmed where the Meyers lived for Ferguson.
Bell, Moss, Ferguson and Blake Smith, 32, of Dayton, have been charged with attempted murder, along with other charges, in connection with the shooting.
Amanda Milsap, 45, of Lafayette, is being held with a $500,000 cash and $1 million surety bonds on felony charges of bribery and obstruction of justice. Zenada Greer, 61, of Lexington, Kentucky, was charged with two felony counts of assisting a criminal in an attempted murder and obstruction of justice.
For more on the plot and the charges:
GOING TO THE WEST LAFAYETTE SCHOOL BOARD: PROPOSALS FOR STUDENT TRANSFER POLICY, HIRING A PR FIRM FOR POTENTIAL PROPERTY TAX REFERENDUM CAMPAIGN
The West Lafayette school board, wrestling with its transfer student guideline since a new state law undermined a standing agreement with neighboring Tippecanoe School Corp., is expected on Monday to go through the language and priority system laid out in a proposed policy.
The school board’s policy committee will bring a proposal drafted last week to the board for debate and a first vote, with a final vote not scheduled until the board’s March 9 meeting.
The West Lafayette school board has been in a holding pattern on the student transfer policy since last summer, after a new state law stripped school districts’ ability to charge the additional costs of the district’s property tax referendum to families of transfer students who live and pay taxes somewhere else.
