CROWN POINT -- Prosecutors on Monday dismissed murder charges against a Newton County man who was to go on trial this week for the killings of two men inside a Hammond auto repair shop.

Lake County Deputy Prosecutor Susan Collins told Criminal Court Judge Clarence Murray that while she was taking statements from a witness last week she discovered new evidence that needed to be investigated.

Because state law requires that a criminal defendant held without bond be tried within a year of charging, Collins said the decision was made to dismiss the charges against Jeremiah Shane Farmer, 20, rather than allow the time to elapse.

Collins said there are no additional suspects in the killings and she does not expect anyone else to be charged. She said the charges dismissed Monday can be refiled against Farmer later.

Farmer's attorney, Walter Alvarez, said, "In light of the conflicting evidence, I would presume that the innocence of my client has been made apparent, and I would not expect charges to be refiled."

Neither Collins nor Alvarez would elaborate on the nature of the new evidence, but Alvarez said, "I applaud the decision of the prosecutor because it reflected morality as well as it was the right thing to do under the circumstances.

"After my diligent efforts and those of my associate, Ben Murphy, and after numerous depositions, I believe the evidence pointed to the innocence of my client."

Farmer, dressed for trial in a high-necked gray, black and white sweater, leaned back in his chair and smiled at his family as Murray announced the charges were dismissed and Farmer's bond reset at $5,000 on a pending marijuana possession charge, which remains.

He had been held for nine months without bond, which is standard for persons charged with murder.

Farmer, an admitted member of a Chicago-based street gang, is alleged to have killed two men because he thought they had seen him shooting out of a car in an earlier incident. He also is charged with robbing the business in which the men worked.

Hammond police Detectives Thomas Grabowski and Anthony Adam said Farmer walked into Calumet Auto Rebuilders, 5105 Calumet Ave., on the morning of June 25, 1999, and accosted owner Marion Lowry, 74, of Hammond, and co-worker Harvey Siegers, 66, of Orland Park, Ill.

Farmer accused the men of talking to police about having seen him shooting out of a car, the detectives said, and when the men said they did not know what he was talking about, he demanded their money, then beat them with a sledgehammer.

The hammer and bloodstained money were found in an alley in the 800 block between Wilcox and Michigan streets, police said. Farmer is alleged to have dropped his black-and-gold sports cap and his black-and-gold sunglasses at the murder scene. The colors on the cap and glasses are used by a Chicago-based street gang as one means of identifying themselves, police said.

Farmer is alleged to have bragged about the murder to friends and other gang members, Adam and Grabowski said. As police closed in on him, the detectives said, Farmer started making phone calls to line up a lawyer and to find a hiding place.

Farmer was arrested by Griffith and Hammond police as he dropped his mother off at a bakery in Griffith.

Mark Kiesling can be reached at markk@howpubs.com or (219) 662-5330.