VALPARAISO | Monica Hicks was smiling Thursday afternoon as she left the courtroom after a Porter County jury cleared her on charges of murdering former roommate, 45-year-old Ingrid VanEck.
The jury deliberating an hour and a half before finding 46-year-old Hicks not guilty of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
She was found guilty on a third count of assisting a criminal after admitting this week to helping dispose of VanEck's body. The assisting charge carries a potential prison term of two to eight years, which is far less than the minimum 45 years for murder and 20 to 50 years for conspiracy.
Hicks will remain at the Porter County Jail until sentencing at 11 a.m. Feb. 2 by Porter Superior Judge Roger Bradford.
A week's worth of evidence boiled down to the reliability of Hicks and her codefendant, Jesus Baca Sanchez, who struck a deal to testify on behalf of prosecutors in return for them dropping four of his five felony charges and capping his prison sentence at 40 years.
"He (Sanchez) just lied too many times," defense attorney Matt Soliday said following the verdict.
Soliday told the jurors shortly before they deliberated Thursday that Sanchez gave police seven different versions of what happened to VanEck before settling on his final story that Hicks attacked her with a hammer. Sanchez said he struck VanEck once with a wrench after the beating because she was making "gargling" noises.
Hicks testified Wednesday that Sanchez beat VanEck to death at their home on April 21, 2005. Hicks denied taking part in the killing, but admitted to helping clean up the murder scene and dispose of the body in Deep River in Lake Station because she feared Sanchez.
Soliday challenged Sanchez's credibility by pointing out he is a convicted felon, had "conned" police out of more than $6,000 in rent money and had until recently told police he used a hammer, not a wrench to strike VanEck.
Deputy Prosecutor Cheryl Polarek told the jury Thursday that Hicks was the only one with a motive to kill VanEck.
Hicks feared being thrown out of VanEck's Portage home and did not want VanEck to follow through on plans to sell a 1956 Chevrolet that was supposed to go to Hicks' young son, Polarek said.
"That woman has shown no remorse over what she did," Polarek said.
