03-05-2011, 10:17 PM
By VINCE LUECKE, Editor
TELL CITY – A man once charged with murder will remain free after the Indiana Court of Appeals granted a motion to dismiss an appeal filed in his case, which was itself dismissed in November.
The court of appeals granted the dismissal in the case against Thomas E. Lane, who was freed in November after the state requested the charge of murder filed against him be dropped. Lane had been jailed for 18 months in the 1997 death of Deborah Cioe.
The appeal centered on two issues, a ruling by Judge Lucy Goffinet to remove then Prosecutor Robert Collins from the case to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest. During a pretrial hearing, Lane’s attorneys, Michael and Walter Hagedorn, argued that Collins’ employment of a woman who used to work in Hagedorn’s office threatened Lane’s defense as the case headed to trial.
Gary Schutte of Vanderburgh County was appointed a special prosecutor in the case. At the same time, the state attorney general’s office sought to have the court of appeals review Goffinet’s decision.
While that process was under way, Goffinet ruled that DNA evidence be excluded from the trial due to delays in having items of evidence tested. The Hagedorns argued the state’s delay in meeting deadlines kept them from conducting their own tests.
Schutte said the delays were due to a backlog of cases in an Indiana State Police laboratory. When Goffinet ordered DNA evidence excluded, Schutte requested the charge be dismissed. Goffinet granted the motion and ordered Lane freed.
The appellate court’s dismissal also affirms the court’s pretrial ruling on evidence.
The dismissal was granted with prejudice, a legal term meaning those aspects of the case are now permanently closed.
Lane was indicted in April 2009 by a grand jury for causing Cioe death.
The 21-year-old Tell City woman’s body was found along Highwater Road several days after she disappeared.
Goffinet’s dismissal kept open the possibility that charges could be refiled against Lane. Unbeknownst to the circuit court and attorneys, the Court of Appeals had ordered a stay in proceedings until judges could review the motions before it.
But news of that ruling never reached the local court or attorneys until after the hearing in which the murder charge was dismissed.
http://www.perrycountynews.com/content/a...-dismissal
TELL CITY – A man once charged with murder will remain free after the Indiana Court of Appeals granted a motion to dismiss an appeal filed in his case, which was itself dismissed in November.
The court of appeals granted the dismissal in the case against Thomas E. Lane, who was freed in November after the state requested the charge of murder filed against him be dropped. Lane had been jailed for 18 months in the 1997 death of Deborah Cioe.
The appeal centered on two issues, a ruling by Judge Lucy Goffinet to remove then Prosecutor Robert Collins from the case to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest. During a pretrial hearing, Lane’s attorneys, Michael and Walter Hagedorn, argued that Collins’ employment of a woman who used to work in Hagedorn’s office threatened Lane’s defense as the case headed to trial.
Gary Schutte of Vanderburgh County was appointed a special prosecutor in the case. At the same time, the state attorney general’s office sought to have the court of appeals review Goffinet’s decision.
While that process was under way, Goffinet ruled that DNA evidence be excluded from the trial due to delays in having items of evidence tested. The Hagedorns argued the state’s delay in meeting deadlines kept them from conducting their own tests.
Schutte said the delays were due to a backlog of cases in an Indiana State Police laboratory. When Goffinet ordered DNA evidence excluded, Schutte requested the charge be dismissed. Goffinet granted the motion and ordered Lane freed.
The appellate court’s dismissal also affirms the court’s pretrial ruling on evidence.
The dismissal was granted with prejudice, a legal term meaning those aspects of the case are now permanently closed.
Lane was indicted in April 2009 by a grand jury for causing Cioe death.
The 21-year-old Tell City woman’s body was found along Highwater Road several days after she disappeared.
Goffinet’s dismissal kept open the possibility that charges could be refiled against Lane. Unbeknownst to the circuit court and attorneys, the Court of Appeals had ordered a stay in proceedings until judges could review the motions before it.
But news of that ruling never reached the local court or attorneys until after the hearing in which the murder charge was dismissed.
http://www.perrycountynews.com/content/a...-dismissal
It's the hint of arsenic that gives it that extra kick.