A motions hearing is scheduled this morning in the courtroom of Indiana County President Judge William Martin, who will take up a revised motion for dismissal of the charges against 65-year-old Charles Cook. He’s charged with criminal homicide and robbery in the December 1991 shooting death of 76-year-old Myrtle McGill of Indiana.
The case is technically listed as “closed” while State Superior Court considers an appeal by the Indiana County District Attorney’s office of Judge Martin’s pretrial rulings which denied some of the prosecution’s evidence while accepting other evidence with limitations. D.A. Pat Dougherty is asking the appeals court to rule as admissible Cook’s statements upon his arrest in Billings, Montana three days after McGill’s murder. The court is also being asked to allow the reconsideration of some of Cook’s mental health records.
In court today, Judge Martin will consider attorney Aaron Ludwig’s amended motion for dismissal which is based on state law requiring a speedy trial. Cook was identified as a suspect in the crime in 2007 and was finally located and arrested in Minnesota in the fall of 2016. He was extradited to Indiana County the following spring.
