Lake County murder trial costs likely to mount

CROWN POINT | The Lake County Council is trying to decide whether to find more money for an upcoming capital murder trial.

The council mulled requests Thursday at a workshop meeting to spend $50,000 to feed and lodge a jury for what could be a four-week trial for murder defendant Kevin Isom and another $250,000 to help defend him against imposition of the death penalty.

The jury is set to be sequestered for as long as four weeks in a local motel to avoid outside influences.

Those costs are in addition to $250,000 the council appropriated last year for trial preparation. Isom's trial is scheduled to begin Feb. 27.

He has pleaded not guilty to fatally shooting his wife, Cassandra Isom, 40, and her two children, Michael Moore, 16, and Ci'Andria Cole, 13, on Aug. 6, 2007, at the family's Lakeshore Dunes Apartments in Gary's Miller Beach neighborhood.

Councilwoman Christine Cid, D-East Chicago, told representatives of Lake Criminal Court and public defender's office Thursday that she did not know where the council would find the money for the case.

Councilman Mike Repay, D-Hammond, said the county had no choice but to find the finances because a jury trial is a constitutional obligation.

Deputy Chief Public Defender David Olson suggested the council take the money out of the county prosecutor's budget because that office is seeking the death penalty, which necessitates extraordinary defense measures.

Olson said if Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter had sought life without parole for Isom, the case would cost a fraction of the current amount.

Isom originally employed a private law firm to defend him but fired those attorneys in 2010, making the defense the responsibility of taxpayers.

Both prosecutors and defense lawyers said last year that Isom was offered a plea bargain to resolve the case short of a trial, but those negotiations were unsuccessful.