Gingerich Attorneys Try To Keep Testimony Out Of Trial
Posted
Jen Gibson-jgibson@timesuniononline.com
Paul Henry Gingerich took the stand Tuesday afternoon to testify in a hearing about whether his statements to police should be admitted as evidence in his trial.
Gingerich, 12, is accused of being a triggerman in the April 20 murder of Phillip Danner of Cromwell. Gingerich and Colt Lundy, 15, are accused of killing Lundy's stepfather Danner by shooting him four times in his home on Doswell Boulevard, Cromwell.
In a plea agreement accepted by Kosciusko Circuit Court Judge Rex Reed Sept. 27, Lundy pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder, a Class A felony, and was sentenced to 30 years in prison with five years suspended for probation. As part of the agreement, one count of murder and one count of aiding, abetting or inducing murder were dismissed.
In Kosciusko Circuit Court Tuesday, Gingerich's attorneys presented testimony to support their motion to suppress statements Gingerich made to Peru, Ill., police as well as Kosciusko County Sheriff's Detectives on April 21.
Gingerich, Lundy and Chase Williams, 12, allegedly used Lundy's mother's car to flee the scene of Danner's murder and were headed to Arizona when they stopped at a Walmart in Peru, Ill., in the early morning hours of April 21. The boys were detained by Peru, Ill., police and returned to Indiana the same day.
Gingerich's attorneys submitted a motion to the court to suppress the statements Gingerich made during police interviews the day after Danner's murder, saying that he did not understand his rights and that his parents were not able to adequately discuss his rights with him. However, Peru, Ill., police received permission to talk with the boy from his parents, and his mother, Paul and his mother Nicole Gingerich signed a waiver form before he was interviewed by Kosciusko County Sheriff's Detective Jon Tyler.
Judge Reed heard about five hours of testimony from Robert A. Pyszka, deputy chief of police in Peru, Ill.; Jon Tyler, detective at the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department; Gingerich's parents, Paul and Nicole Gingerich; and defendant Paul Gingerich Tuesday afternoon.
The officers testified about how they got permission to speak with Gingerich, and the first few minutes of a DVDs of the defendant's interviews with both police agencies showing him signing the consent forms and saying he understood his rights.
Gingerich's attorneys questioned his parents about the defendant's mental and physical state when he returned to Kosciusko County with police. Both Nicole and Paul Gingerich said their son looked tired before he was interviewed by Tyler. Paul Henry Gingerich testified that he had only slept for about an hour between the hours of 7 p.m. April 20 and 8 p.m. April 21.
Officers who interviewed Gingerich said the boy seemed alert and awake and did not appear to be sleepy while they spoke with him.
After hearing all the testimony, Judge Reed said he would take the issue under advisement and "issue an order in due course."
