Motions hearings are scheduled today in three criminal cases in Indiana County Court, including one for Charles Cook, the drifter who is awaiting trial for the shooting death of an Indiana woman in 1991.
Cook, whose homicide case is currently before State Superior Court, is charged in a separate case with seven felony counts of criminal use of a communication device. The date of the offense is listed as October 12th of last year. The investigation began in May and the charges were filed in August. Cook was incarcerated at the Indiana County Jail when the crimes are alleged to have happened.
The homicide case before the appeals court centers on a prosecution appeal of Judge William Martin’s orders denying the admissibility of certain items of evidence, specifically Cook’s statements upon his arrest in Billings, Montana three days after Myrtle McGill was killed at her home along South 6th Street. The district attorney is also asking the appellate court to reconsider the admissibility of Cook’s mental health records.
Cook was identified as a suspect in 2007 and finally located and arrested in Minnesota in 2016. His case has been argued and is now listed as “awaiting (the) decision” by the court.
Also in Indiana County Court today, there’s a motions hearing for 49-year-old Antoinette Marie Zack of Clymer, who is charged with 18 criminal counts, all of them misdemeanors. The alleged offenses occurred in June. Charges include six counts each of simple assault, terroristic threats, and recklessly endangering another person. Zack is challenging the competency of the juvenile victims to testify against her.
23-year-old Shawn Robert Fink of Finleyville, Washington County, will have a motions hearing today in a drug case. He’s charged with possession intent to deliver, possession of a small amount of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia. The investigation began in February of this year, for an offense alleged to have occurred in September of 2017.
