Suspect refuses to attend court
Dec. 16—GOSHEN — It's become relatively commonplace as of late for Elkhart County Circuit Court to experience situations where the accused refuse to come to their scheduled court date despite being in police custody.
This happened again Thursday for Elkhart County Judge Michael Christofeno when attempted murder suspect Dominique Edwards, 27, Elkhart, refused to attend his status conference Thursday morning in court.
Edwards is accused of shooting and injuring his father, Anthony Shaw, while at Shaw's home along the 1600 block of Stevens Avenue in Elkhart the night of Nov. 20, 2020. He faces charges of attempted murder, a Level 1 felony, and two misdemeanor counts of resisting law enforcement.
While visiting the home, witnesses said Edwards grabbed a pillow, went to Shaw's bedroom and fired a gun through the pillow at him. Prior to the shooting, witnesses described Edwards as acting strangely and possibly being on drugs.
Shaw, who was shot in the leg and abdomen, told police Edwards said something to the effect of, "Sorry, pops, but I have to kill you," before he opened fire, according to details in the probable cause affidavit in the case.
Another man at the house told police he then tackled Edwards, knocking the gun out of his hand. The man said he fought Edwards and chased him out of the house, according to the affidavit.
Edwards was located and arrested in December 2020 after an Elkhart officer was dispatched to the 1600 block of Morehouse Avenue to investigate a report of suspicious activity, the affidavit shows.
Edwards Public Defender Christopher Petersen told the court Thursday that he's struggled to get Edwards to cooperate with a series of competency evaluations but had received the impression from Edwards that he would cooperate, given another chance. He was informed during court however that Edwards yet again refused to speak to another psychologist to evaluate competency.
With Edwards refusing competency evaluations and also refusing to attend court Thursday, Christofeno agreed to retain his scheduled appointments for a trial status conference Jan. 26 and a jury trial Feb. 20.
JORDAN COLE
A robbery suspect lost his private counsel following an additional charge laid against him during Thursday morning's court proceedings.
Originally Jordan Cole, 21, Elkhart, was dealing with a battery charge stemming from Feb. 2021, but authorities are also accusing him and Tyris Jennings in a string of robberies March 27, 2019.
According to police, the two men shot a 45-year-old man while robbing a Kentucky Fried Chicken and later a Burger King that day. The shooting left the KFC employee paralyzed. Warrants for the duo were issued in June, police say, due to surveillance footage and the testimony of the men. Cole was arrested Aug. 24.
On Thursday, Cole's attorney Donald Berger's motion to withdraw his appearance was approved and Cole received Johnson as his public defender.
Cole's jury trial remains scheduled for March 6 with a trial status conference Feb. 9.
