During a pre-trial hearing in Indianapolis on Thursday June 9th, Federal Court judge James Patrick Hanlon urged US prosecutors to make a decision regarding whether or not to seek the death penalty for Shane Meehan at a conference scheduled for July 28th. Defense attorney Monica Foster told reporters after the hearing that the lead prosecutor in the case, Zachary Meyers US Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, has not sought the death penalty in similar cases.
According to court records Meehan is currently being indicted on three charges: premeditated murder of a federal agent, attempted arson of federal property, and the use/carry/discharge of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence causing death. These charges are related to the shooting death of Terre Haute Police Detective and FBI task force officer Greg Ferency outside of the FBI office in Terre Haute on July 7, 2021.
Meehan’s attorneys have already filed a preliminary plea of not guilty and notified the court during the hearing that they have given several hundred pages of medical records to federal prosecutors during the pre-trial discovery process. US Attorney, Lindsay Karwoski (pictured on the far left in the above image), declined to comment on the case, but did express doubts about the amount of evidence provided by the defense.
Prosecutors have already provided evidence during two pre-trial discovery hearings, but Meehan’s defense attorneys expressed a desire for more evidence they believed was being withheld by the prosecution. After the hearing, federal court officials declined to reveal where Meehan is being detained apart from the vague description of a county jail in southern Indiana.
