One year after Attkisson’s murder, Gonzalez trial date remains in question

Tuesday, January 26, 2021
Accused of the murder of Lisa Attkisson, John Gonzalez is escorted into the Putnam County Courthouse for his initial hearing last February.
Banner Graphic/JARED JERNAGAN

With nearly a year having passed since a Greencastle woman was found dead in her South Side home, the man accused of her murder will soon stand trial.

How soon remains an open question.

The body of 44-year-old Lisa Attkisson was discovered one year ago this Friday, with investigators ultimately determining she was killed the night before on Jan. 28, 2020.

Lisa Attkisson was found murdered in her home on Jan. 29, 2020.
Courtesy photo

Charged with murder and four other felonies related to the case, John H. Gonzalez, 29, of Terre Haute, is set to stand trial before a jury of his peers in late March, though a couple of factors may change that.

While the case is currently set for jury selection on Friday, March 19 with a trial commencing on Monday, March 22, the defense recently asked for a continuance.

Public defender Jim Hanner filed the motion for continuance last week, though Superior Court Judge Denny Bridges had not yet ruled on the request as of Monday afternoon.

Additionally, the Indiana Supreme Court’s restriction on jury trials due to the COVID-19 pandemic lifts on March 1, though it’s unclear if it will be extended.

Conducting jury trials has been a problem in the nearly one year since COVID-19 began curtailing gatherings of all kinds.

Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter spoke to the Banner Graphic about these struggles as they relate to the Gonzalez case.

Putnam County Prosecutor Tim Bookwalter
Courtesy photo

“In a case like this you would have a jury pool of at least 50 citizens,” Bookwalter said. “Twelve would be picked along with two alternate jurors and they would be kept in the jury room when the trial is not in session.”

Besides this, there would be the judge, court staff, attorneys on both sides, the defendant, witnesses and police and security officers, not to mention members of the general public.

“A major felony jury is not the type of thing you can accomplish by video conferencing,” Bookwalter added. “Defendants have the constitutional right to confront and cross-examine their accusers.”

The prosecutor made those statements last April, and for all the progress that has been made in the fight against COVID-19, court restrictions remain a hurdle nine months later.

What the next two months hold is anyone’s guess, but the Prosecutor’s Office is currently prepared for the March 22 date while also allowing for the possibility of another continuance.

Court records indicate a plethora of requests for search warrants and subpoenas relating to the case, indicating that trying the case — either from the prosecution or defense perspective — will be no small matter.

Shortly after Attkisson’s body was discovered, police began to zero in on Gonzalez, the victim’s boyfriend, as a suspect.

Five days later, Gonzalez was taken into custody in Rock Island County, Ill., near Attkisson’s stolen vehicle and in possession of several of her belongings.

Two days after that, Bookwalter filed a murder charge against Gonzalez in Putnam Superior court, along with Level 6 felony auto theft and Level 6 felony theft of a firearm. Charges of Level 4 felony unlawful possession of a firearm by a serious violent felon and Level 5 felony carrying a handgun without a license with a prior conviction were added subsequently.

Gonzalez made his initial court appearance on Feb. 10, entering a not-guilty plea and being assigned Hanner as a public defender. He has remained incarcerated in the Putnam County Jail since.

Investigators converge on the home of Lisa Attkisson the morning her body was found in the home last January.
Banner Graphic/JARED JERNAGAN

The Terre Haute man’s criminal history is extensive, with a 2012 conviction for Class D felony sexual battery (reduced from a Class B felony rape charge), a 2012 Class A misdemeanor domestic battery conviction (reduced from a Class D felony) and a 2015 guilty plea to Level 6 felony robbery.

While serving four years in prison for the robbery conviction, Gonzalez also had a lingering Vigo County charge of Level 5 felony battery resulting in serious bodily injury.

That case, however, never made it to trial, with several continuances requested by the prosecution.

In September of 2019, Gonzalez was released from the Department of Correction but was not taken into the custody of the Vigo County Jail, the still-active case apparently slipping through the cracks.

He subsequently took up residence in Greencastle with Attkisson.

With these events in mind, Bookwalter also sought a habitual offender enhancement in the case.

Gonzalez could face more than 90 years in prison if convicted.

Friends of Lisa Attkisson let their opinions be known outside the Putnam County Courthouse on the day of John Gonzalez's initial hearing in Putnam Superior Court last year.
Banner Graphic/JARED JERNAGAN
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