Monday, July 19, 2004
The trial could be postponed indefinitely.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- A prosecutor asked a judge to step down from hearing the case of a man accused of killing a student during a shooting rampage at a business school, saying she is biased.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor William Mason made the request last week in a letter to common pleas Judge Judith Kilbane Koch.
Koch is to decide before a scheduled Sept. 13 trial date whether Biswanath Halder is mentally competent, and Mason contends that she made up her mind before reviewing evidence and hearing arguments.
Halder, 64, of Cleveland, pleaded innocent last May to 338 charges, including aggravated murder and terrorism.
The charges arise from the seven-hour shooting siege on May 9, 2003, at Case Western Reserve University's Peter B. Lewis building. Nearly 100 people were trapped during the standoff.
Youngstown native killed
Halder is accused in the shooting death of Youngstown native Norman Eugene Wallace. Wallace, a 1991 graduate of Calvary Christian Academy, was living in Cleveland after graduating with a degree in finance in 1997 from Youngstown State University. He was working on his MBA degree.
If a judge rules Halder, 64, incompetent or too unstable to understand the death-penalty charges against him, the trial could be postponed indefinitely.
In his letter, Mason charges that Koch's comments in pretrial meetings indicated she had made up her mind. Mason quotes Koch as saying, "We all know he's crazy ... his lawyers cannot even work with him."
Koch refused to comment on the request. She had not responded to the letter, or a rebuttal letter from Halder's defense team, as of this morning.
The prosecutor says Koch dismissed one psychiatrist's opinion that Halder is fit for trial by saying, "What kind of doctor is she, that she would find this guy competent?"
If Koch withdrew, another judge would be assigned by random selection.
Tobik and fellow defense attorney James Kersey urged in their rebuttal letter that Koch reject Mason's demand, saying he "is simply wrong." The judge's "off-the-cuff" remarks, which are not part of the official trial record, should not be given so much weight, Tobik wrote, telling Koch she shows "willingness to go above and beyond in your efforts to be fair to both parties."