State forces defense’s hand in Fort continuation
Fort, enduring the heat last August
SALINE CO.—State’s Attorney Mike Henshaw lay the progression of Todd Fort’s criminal cases—or lack thereof—squarely at the feet of his defense attorney Bryan Drew this morning in Saline County Circuit Court.
Fort, appearing in much warmer jail togs today as opposed to the cool duds he’s been sporting in most pics since his arrest last July (and rearrest in September), was first up this morning, with Judge Walden Morris calling the case only 18 minutes late instead of the usual half-hour.
Fort is the former Saline County chief deputy and Harrisburg School District school board president who is charged with five counts of Criminal Sexual Assault and five of Official Misconduct in connection with that assault of a 17-year-old female intern working at the sheriff’s department in Harrisburg. He was arrested July 20 after an incident involving the girl’s father, wherein the father chased the two, at times reaching speeds in excess of 80 mph in Fort’s police squad, through the streets of the ‘burg. He was held until he bonded in late August, but was later rearrested Sept. 22 when he violated the terms of his bond Sept. 10 and 22. He’s been held at the Jackson County Jail in Murphysboro since that time.
For the most part, today’s hearing was just tidying up of things prior to jury trial.
However, it doesn’t look like it’s going to move to a jury trial anytime soon.
While, as Drew noted, all the discovery and DNA results are in, he and his client are “wanting to hire experts” and Fort “is not in a position right now to hire them.”
“There are DNA experts we want to hire,” Drew said, “and there are computers involved, with messaging on them, and we’re seeking experts trying to discover the origin of some of the messages.”
(Apparently Drew doesn’t understand the specificity of computers, Facebook, and Facebook’s servers where transfers of messages, even if deleted on a PC, stay for all time an posterity, and will no doubt track messages right back to Hot Toddy….but if that’s the way he wants it, he evidently just needs to find out the hard way).
Drew said he anticipated 30-60 days to locate experts to look at the evidence, and because Fort hasn’t yet received his negotiated severance pay check finalized more than a month and a half ago (we don’t know the backstory on this, but we damned sure are going to find out), Fort “can’t hire anyone until the middle of February” because that’s when he anticipates the check will come through, and that’s the only money Fort has.
Fort’s house was recently the subject of foreclosure action; it will likely come up for a sheriff’s sale pretty soon.
Henshaw told the judge that the state believed they have turned in all discovery required of them, and that “we are in the process of negotiating our own expert witness” in a particular field, and when that expert is secured, all info will be turned over to the defense.
“We’ve received nothing from the defense,” Henshaw advised the judge. “We are asking for the defense to turn over their discovery.”
Drew didn’t have anything to say to that, other than “We don’t know who their ‘expert’ is or what it’s about,” and the judge proceeded, asking Drew what he suggested for a trial date.
Henshaw filled in the silence.
“We don’t know where we are on the speedy trial,” he told Morris. “But we will be ready any time to try the case.”
Henshaw continued: “I’m asking the defense to set a trial date with the understanding of who is responsible for the speedy trial clock. He told me this morning he would.”
Drew looked a little stymied.
“We can,” he hedged, “but I don’t know where we are with out experts.”
“I’m going to give you an opportunity to figure that out,” Morris said, peering at Drew over the top of his glasses.
Drew conferred with Fort briefly, then turned back to the judge and offered May 4.
With a little bit of notation, the judge called that the jury trial date, with all discovery due by March 18, and in the event there are motions to be argued, a date for that of April 8.
The move was a smooth one: with Drew calling the date, the speedy trial delay (120 days for a person held in custody on any charges) is attributed to the defense and can’t be held against the state. Therefore, if they go over the 120 days, the defense can’t pull out the “I had a 120-day window to have a trial and YOU didn’t do it!!” whine like many in Richland County, of late, have been getting charges dismissed over.
More in the print version, on stands early in February (02.09.11); be watching for it, there are things developing in the Fort case that may come out by that time!
Short URL: http://www.disclosurenewsonline.com/?p=5755
Posted by Angela Howser
on Jan 14 2011. Filed under Saline.
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I wondered why the picture of the chicken was there..Should have been a rooster though. Know what I’m sayin???
We don’t give ol ChickenBob THAT much credit…otherwise we’d have called him “Rooster”Bob.
LOL…I know what you mean. We would never want to call him “C**K Bob or Bob C**K or C**k of da walk Bob..might go to his head..sorry bout that..
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When i hear about fort the song she was only 17 keeps popping. Up in my head lol fort be appointed cheif deputy made me wonder about dk judgment after the fort or deal came out. I really dont trust his judgment. I dont under stand why a man with a grudge against ISP CAUSE HE DID NOT GET WHAT HE THOUGHT HE SHOULD OF WHEN HE RETIRED WENT AND ADD ANOTHER TROOPER TO SALINE CO DEPT. MAYBE SENCE HE WAS GONNA. HIRE A TROOPER FOR CHIEF DEPUTY IT SHOULD OF BEEN SOME 1 IN THE I.A. DEPT
Well ?????? What exactly are you trying to say here, I put my specks on to read the small print them the upper-case knocks my eyes out of my head…
But I do agree with YOU … DK is a Dick Head and I never had faith in his ass.. before he gets kicked out of office he will have the hole force exISP officers..
What a POS….
Is Fort shrinking away too nothing? Surely he wasnt this skinny when he was an officer. He would of been able to arrest a bug. LOL
No he was kind of chunky just prior to all this breaking. He literally lost a lot of weight when the alleged affair was going on, not to impress the girl, but because he was in a constant state of fear of being found out (because he knew the neighbors had been taking photos and videos of the girl’s car pulling into his driveway).
He knew he was doing something wrong all along, and it was eating him up. But when he got put in jail, with that nasty jail food and all those criminals knowing he was a cop, he dropped another 20 like in about two weeks. Now he looks like an Ethiopian in 1985.
Isn’t the song “She was only 16″?
It is.
And she was, according to the neighbors who videotaped and photographed her car pulling into his driveway.
The Beatles…”She was just seventeen”, if you know what I mean…”When I saw her standing there”..that’s the song that came to my mind…think that’s the name of the song. Then there was “16 candles” by Roy Orbison..”Strawberry Wine”..’17, a hot July moon’ by Deana Carter…NO, Fort was already in jail by that time! And I am sitting here thinking About “Oh What a Night”, by Frankie Valli & the Four seasons with it being a Saturday night and I’m not able to get out to do squat yet. And YES, it is January now & not December as the song refers to…lol..
But, I have ALL of you to keep me entertained & busy. Thank goodness & Thank You All… 
See, I DO have a LIFE…TAHAHAHA
“She was only 16″, by Sam Cooke! Found it!!
Dr. Hook did it also.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QChPG1rSOU0
goneforgood, A much better version there! OMG…I could listen to Dr. Hooks version over & over again..thank you! Gonna go listen to it again a time or ten. Talk about memories…WOW!
@Well: DKB hired the right person.
goneforgood, WOW!! Thank you!! Oh the memories of my youth & the music. Ironically, my middle child LOVES the music from that time era too..
I love almost all kinds of music, but some bring back such fond & wonderful memories and mellows me out..Thanx!!
That was when music was actually music.
Don’t ya know it? And you could understand the words & meaning behind them…and just chill out with all your friends by a campfire at different lakes or even out in the boonies where someone lived…I can not thank you enough for the memories you have brought forth..no guns or crap like that to worry about either…just campfires, food & drink of our choice…sitting or walking around the picnic tables or shelters..
In the 80′s, the glam hairband Winger did a song “Seventeen”…She’s only seventeen…seventeen.
And Steve Perry recently had a song “You Better Wait” that has this in the first verse:
She was 17
Beauty queen
Met her in a magazine….
You look at some of this stuff and put it into context and then wonder why 40-something men go lusting after 16 & 17 year old girls. Or boys, can’t discriminate. But we listen to some of the stuff that was popular when we were 13 and 14 years old and some of those lyrics were just FOUL. No wonder some people sink so fast….they get bombarded subliminally in the grocery store with suggestive songs.
Sheesh, I feel perverted looking at a good looking 25 year old gal. I think to myself “Damn, I was 32 when she was born” :[
Of course when a girl says “Oh, I am old, I was born in 1981″ I have to think “Well, that was only 10 years after I went in the Army”
1.68 do u really want to go in detail about dk hire n one guy made a traffic stop on i 57 on his way to gun training wit out notification to that county or isp then turned around later and shot a car that was run n from him. I would lay money if jack does digging or admit what he knows he want say he hired the right guy care to comment jack on what you have heard and not published yet
@ Well: Frankly I have no idea what you are talking about. But I would say if you have a problem with the guy be a man and say it to his face. I think he is a good guy
We know why Fort stopped teaching at SIC now……the girls were too old for him….
@Well, I got the idea of what you’re saying but I have had to read all of your posts a few times before I did. Perhaps if you would use punctuation, capitalization and an actual sentence structure, it might be a little easier to get your point across and make it more effective. Just a thought.
I know but IAm using a black berry storm and this touch screen blows
@Dennis, you are such a hoot….
@ambu_u_2, so are you, but there may be some truth behind that one…..just sayin
@Angela, the power of suggestion is stronger than people even know it to be! It is happening ALL of the time but most people don’t realize it’s going on.
ooops, I also meant to say that it isn’t just in music either. It’s everywhere!!!
Well: Stop posting. No one can read them…you are wasting your time and ours
@Dwight..I know what you’re saying there! I hate having to read & re-read post comments to try to figure it all out…. :[
I am wondering about the trial date and trying to move it to May. Is there some obscure law where the victim in this case could absolve Todd of guilt once of age? That seems like that is the only thing that would make sense as far as him trying to push this to May.
No. The law applies to the time frame in which the incidents happen. We have reason to believe there might be more evidence supplied that shows this was going on when the girl was 16. This would enter it into a whole new realm. But nothing’s been done yet about that.
The May date was decided upon due to the court’s calendar and Drew’s calendar. It was the “first available” date when both would be free to tend to the complexities of a trial, as well as when all evidence would be gone over by Fort’s “experts” in DNA and other matters. We’ll see how THAT turns out. It’s going to be a battle of how science is interpreted, in our estimation.
Plus, I would think that he would rather be where he is now, as opposed to where he will get sent when convicted.