11262007 - News Article - So many trials, so little time - Jewell Harris, Robert Cantrell bump into each other on federal court calendar - ROBERT CANTRELL

So many trials, so little time
FEDERAL COURT -- Jewell Harris, Robert Cantrell bump into each other on federal court calendar
NWI Times
Nov 26, 2007
nwitimes.com/news/local/so-many-trials-so-little-time/article_d4da593b-f63b-5311-8e19-1f5e740de5a2.html
With their witnesses' memories fading and addresses changing, federal prosecutors say they are eager to begin the criminal case against politically connected Gary businessman Jewell Harris Sr.

But the timing of the case has hit a snag -- indicted Lake County political operative Robert Cantrell.

Cantrell and Harris share the same defense attorney, Kevin Milner, in their separate fraud cases.

But when U.S. District Judge Paul Cherry agreed to move the Harris case back to March 31, both sides objected because Cantrell's trial begins March 17 and is not expected to conclude in two weeks.

Prosecutors Bernard Van Wormer and Thomas Kirsch want Cherry to hold the Harris trial in January because it has been 18 months since the indictment was filed alleging Harris double-billed the city for hauling work at The Steel Yard baseball stadium in 2001.

"The government is faced with the problems of witnesses with fading memories or who have moved several times in the interim and are difficult to locate," the prosecutors wrote in court papers.

Milner has refused to represent Harris unless Cherry agrees to push the trial date until next May or later, saying no competent attorney would jump into such a case with such a limited timeline before the trial.

"One does have to wonder why the government is more interested in trying to keep me from representing Jewell than in building the case itself," Milner said Friday.

Cantrell, a longtime political power broker in East Chicago, was indicted on charges that he did not disclose his profits from a contract between his former employer, the North Township trustee's office, and political ally Nancy Fromm's counseling firm.

The Harris and Cantrell cases are entirely unrelated, except for Milner's representation of both defendants.