CROWN POINT | A fiscal challenge in the Lake County public defender's office has delayed the trial of Steven Allen, who is accused of killing his wife, infant daughter and a third person by igniting a Hammond apartment fire in 2005.
Lake Criminal Court Judge Clarence Murray continued the trial Thursday after Public Defender Corinth Bishop said the public defender's office couldn't pay its expert until January.
The expert's investigation into the July 2, 2005, blaze is expected to cost $20,000 to $30,000 in county funds, Bishop said.
The necessary funds are not in the 2008 budget, but will be available as of Jan. 1, said David Olson, chief deputy public defender.
Murray said there could be grounds for appeal if he did not grant the continuation.
"How can we go to trial under those circumstances?" he said. "It would be like not giving him a fair trial."
Deputy Prosecutor John Burke acknowledged he wants Allen to have a fair trial, but said he had to coordinate witnesses and send out subpoenas twice before for this jury trial.
"I'm just kind of frustrated," he said. "I've prepared this case for trial twice."
Burke said he will subpoena more than 40 witnesses for the trial, including engineers, investigators and experts.
Murray granted the Thursday continuation but said he will not give any more continuations for similar issues.
The two-week trial was reset to begin March 9.
Allen was indicted by a Lake County grand jury in September 2006. He faces three counts of murder in the perpetration of arson and two counts of felony arson for the fire.
Although the blaze initially was labeled a cooking fire, investigators suspected Allen used an accelerant in the Tanglewood Apartments complex.
Allen's 31-year-old wife, Christy, a Gary native, was killed in the fire, as was the couple's 2-month-old daughter, Javanae, who was discovered in the couple's closet after the fire. The girl was wrapped in a towel in her car seat, police have said.
The blaze also claimed the life of 22-year-old engineering student Prabhat Singhal, who lived upstairs from the Allens.
Singhal's roommate, Manoj Rana, survived the fire, but suffered burns over 90 percent of his body. The fire left the building gutted, displacing 54 people from 24 apartments.
