LAFAYETTE, IN — The Jan. 18 shooting and wounding of Tippecanoe Superior 2 Judge Steve Meyer created a ripple effect that has prompted Meyer to recuse himself from presiding over two unrelated murder trials pending in his court.
Special Judge Lisa Swaim is presiding over the cases of Meyer’s suspected conspirators: Thomas Moss, Raylen Ferguson, Blake Smith and Nevaeh Bell.
But murder defendant Seyene Vargas was supposed to begin her trial on Oct. 26 for the Feb. 28, 2025, killings of Laportia Shenett and Kadeisha Ross. That trial date has been canceled, and a new date has not yet been set, according to court records.
Murder defendant Montrell Jolly, 36, of Lafayette, was supposed to go to trial on Aug. 17. Jolly is accused of beating his 4-year-old cousin, Ké andre Jolly, to death in his apartment on July 28, 2023.
A jury convicted Jolly of guilty of neglect of a dependent resulting in catastrophic injury, aggravated battery and battery resulting in death to a person less than 14 years old after his July 2025 trial. But the jury did not reach a decision on the charge of murder, so he is to be retried on that charge.
Vargas, 51, of Lafayette, and Jolly are not linked to the alleged conspiracy to shoot Meyer and his wife, Kim, or to the alleged plans to kill a witness in a 2024 case against Moss. In fact, Vargas and Jolly were in jail awaiting trial when those incidents happened.
Nevertheless, Meyer, who returned to the bench Monday, signed an order Tuesday stepping away from the Jolly and Varga cases.
“Given that the deputy prosecutor(s) in this current matter is part of a team on the … (Meyers’ shooting cases) and this current matter has similar characteristics to the above stated pending cases in which I am involved, I have determined that in the abundance of caution, I will recuse from (this) matter,” he wrote in both orders recusing himself.
Meyers also noted that Vargas’ attorneys petitioned the court for a change of judge on May 14, and Meyer’s recusal, in effect, grants that motion.
The May 14 motion for a new judge makes note of Meyer being a victim of a shooting and the similarities between Meyer’s case where he is a victim and Vargas’ case where she is a defendant charged with killing Shenett and Ross.
“Counsel is concerned about actual or perceived bias or prejudice from Judge Meyer if he sits on Ms. Vargas’s case considering the similarities in the factual situations of the two cases as well as the proximity in time from the trial date and his own shooting in January,” the affidavit in support of a change of judge states.
“Counsel is concerned about the mental and emotional toll on Judge Meyer of hearing and enduring a potential weeklong trial with such similar allegations to his own shooting,” the affidavit states.
As of Thursday, June 4, a new judge has not yet been assigned to the Jolly or Vargas cases, which are the only two pending murder cases in Tippecanoe County.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Journal & Courier: Judge Meyer recuses himself from county’s 2 pending murder trials
Reporting by Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier / Lafayette Journal & Courier
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By Ron Wilkins, Lafayette Journal & Courier | USA TODAY Network
