Prosecutors argue Amber Alert not misused in Gary murder case
Lake County prosecutors disagree with the defense’s claim that police misused the Amber Alert system to find a teenage girl accused of killing her mother.
Chastinea Reeves, 17, reportedly stabbed Jamie Garnett, 34, who was found dead Feb. 13, 2017, at her home in the 4400 block of West 23rd Place in Gary, according to court documents.
Reeves, who was 15 at the time, was charged with murder as an adult in Lake Superior Court.
Police issued an Amber Alert for Reeves when Garnett was found.
At the time, police said that Reeves “may be in extreme danger” and that “it is urgent we locate Chastinea and assure she is safe from harm.”
The alert was canceled after Reeves was found safe around 2:30 p.m. Feb. 14, 2017, walking alone near 21st Avenue and Carolina Street in Gary after police said they received information generated from the alert.
John Cantrell, Reeves’ court-appointed attorney, filed a motion in early February arguing that “police officers fraudulently used the state’s Amber Alert System to generate information regarding a fugitive of the law.”
“The police knew by the time the Amber Alert was requested that (Reeves) was not abducted,” Cantrell said.
Cantrell requested that “any and all evidence, observations and statements collected as a result of the fraudulent use of the Am- ber Alert System” be suppressed in the case.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Maureen Koonce asked a judge to deny Cantrell’s request, according to her written response. Cantrell gave no specific evidence or how any evidence was obtained ill e g a l l y, a c c o r d i n g to Koonce.
“Issuing the Amber Alert was not illegal,” Koonce said.
“Issuing the Amber Alert neither directly nor indirectly implicated any of the defendant’s state or federal constitutional rights.”
Cantrell did not “specify any ‘evidence seized,’ ‘observations made’ or ‘statements taken’ as a direct or indirect result of the issuance of the Amber Alert,” according to Koonce.
“Indeed, none exists,” Koonce said.
Even if the Amber Alert was “misused,” as the defense claims, “it still would not entitle the defendant to any relief under the law,” according to Koonce.
A hearing is scheduled for Reeves to address the motion and any pretrial issues on March 8, court records show.
Two other teens, Matthew Martin, 18, and Virgil King, 19, were also charged as adults in connection with the Reeves case.
Martin took a plea deal in December, agreeing to plead guilty to assisting a criminal, a level 5 felony, and battery with moderate injury, a level 6 felony.
Martin agreed to “cooperate fully, truthfully and completely” with prosecutors, including testifying at Reeves’ trial, the deal states.
Martin and King moved a Ford Escape on Feb. 13, 2017, that Reeves gave them the keys for, according to Martin’s plea deal.
Reeves had “what appeared to be blood on her clothing” and took “a knife out of her purse” that had “a broken tip and what appeared to be blood on it,” the deal states.
Reeves “smirked” and said, “I broke the tip off on that (expletive),” according to the deal.
Martin is scheduled to appear in court again March 26, court records show.
King, who is charged with assisting a criminal and auto theft, has a hearing March 11, according to court records.