GREENFIELD — After a mailing mix-up delayed court proceedings two weeks ago, the trial of an Indianapolis woman accused of arranging her romantic rival’s murder is expected to begin Monday.
Amanda Gonzales, 28, of Indianapolis, is one of three people charged in the murder of 23-year-old Katrina Miller, who was found dead in a Hancock County cornfield last July.
The Indianapolis resident died from a single gunshot wound to the head.
Gonzales’ trial was set to begin in late March but was postponed after 75 potential jurors failed to receive notices summoning them to court.
Hancock County Superior Court 1 Judge Terry Snow’s office sent jury duty notices out to a new group of residents April 1, as a new juror pool is formed quarterly.
Monday, proceedings should begin with jury selection and could be followed by opening arguments if time allows, Hancock County Prosecutor Brent Eaton said.
The trial could last up to two weeks:
The prosecutor offered Gonzales a plea deal, but she refused, Eaton said.
Miller’s co-defendants are expected to take the stand during the trial for opposite sides of the case.
Shooter Joe Meyers, who represented himself in a two-week trial last fall and was convicted of murder and kidnapping, will testify for the defense, Eaton said.
Meyer is serving a 75-year sentence in an Indiana Department of Correction facility.
Ronnie Westbrook, Gonzales’ former boyfriend, accepted a plea agreement that is pending with the court. The terms require him to testify against Gonzales, making him one of roughly 40 people on the state’s witness list.
In exchange for his testimony, Westbrook will plead guilty to assisting a criminal. He faces an enhanced sentence because he admits to being a habitual offender.
During Meyers’ trial, Westbrook told the court Gonzales became enraged and plotted Miller’s death after she found Westbrook and Miller in a hotel room together.
Westbrook said Gonzales planned to shoot Miller because she was jealous, but she turned the gun over to Meyers when she couldn’t go through with the act. Meyers shot Miller with Gonzales’ gun, Westbrook said.
Westbrook was on parole at the time of the murder, and data from a court-issued ankle bracelet with a GPS tracker showed he was not at the scene of the shooting. That data was presented during Meyers’ trial.
Instead of going to police, Westbrook footed the bill for motels in Indianapolis where his fellow defendants tried to conceal themselves, police said.