Feds seek limits on materials defense can introduce in sheriff's trial
Post-Tribune
July 10, 2017
Federal prosecutors asked a judge to set limits on what information Lake County Sheriff John Buncich's defense team can introduce during his August public corruption trial.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Philip Benson filed a motion Friday asking a judge to preclude Buncich's defense team from introducing evidence of the sheriff's lawfulness, non-corrupt conduct or lack of a criminal history among a long list, according to court documents.
Buncich's trial is set to start Aug. 7.
Bryan Truitt, one of the sheriff's defense attorneys, said he will be filing a formal response to Benson's motion by Friday.
"We believe that the jury should see the entire picture," Truitt said, in an email. "When in doubt, more evidence is better provided there is some probative value."
Benson argued, in his motion, that federal rules of procedure bar many of the items he cited from being mentioned during a trial.
For example, in defense of his objections to introducing information about the sheriff's good acts, non-corrupt activity or lack of criminal history, Benson wrote he anticipated the defense might attempt to enter evidence about days not mentioned in the indictment where Buncich did not solicit bribes or interacted with political contributors without suggesting official acts would be performed in exchange for donations, according to court documents.
"Even if evidence of specific acts unrelated to the charges of the indictment had some relevance, the evidence should be excluded because its probative value 'is substantially outweighed' by the danger of confusing the issues, needlessly complicating the case and causing undue delay and waste of time," Benson's motion read.
Buncich, former Chief of Police Timothy Downs and William Szarmach, of C.S.A. Towing in Lake Station, were named in a multicount indictment in November alleging an illegal towing scheme in which the sheriff accepted bribes in the form of thousands of dollars in cash and donations to his campaign fund, Buncich's Boosters, according to court records.
Downs pleaded guilty in December and resigned his position at the Lake County Sheriff's Department, according to court documents.
Buncich and Szarmach pleaded not guilty to the charges after the indictments were filed in November and again in April when additional counts of wire fraud were filed with the court.
Aside from the new motion on what evidence and testimony can be presented at trial, a judge has yet to rule on a request for more stringent jury screening because of level of publicity around the trial.
Truitt filed a series of pretrial motions at the end of June, including two that specifically asked the court for a stronger vetting process for potential jurors. Truitt said, in court filings, that extra level of screening is needed because of the media publicity of the case and comments made by Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott Jr. could taint the jury pool.
"The publicity has been both good and bad for both sides in that the defendant is the sheriff with over 60 percent of the vote and was the head of the Lake County Democratic Party, yet has been the victim (of) an endless negative campaign by the Northwest Indiana Times and Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott," Truitt's motion read.
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