Nicolas' grandmother back in court

Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)

Dateline: Oxford, Indiana

By Jim Schenke jschenke@journalandcourier.com

FOWLER - Margaret Williams must wait a little longer to find out if her tardy doctor's note will result in an unexcused absence from court.

The grandmother and guardian of deceased Oxford Elementary School sixth-grader Nicolas Zavala is charged with neglect for harsh punishments allegedly given Nicolas in the months before he disappeared in August 2002.

Williams didn't show up for a Dec. 1 pretrial hearing claiming illness.

On Dec. 17, Benton County Circuit Court Judge Rex Kepner ordered Williams to provide within 10 days a detailed note from her doctor about her condition on Dec. 1.

When such a note had not been provided on time, Benton County deputy prosecutor Craig Jones sought and was granted a hearing to revoke Williams' bond and rule to show cause.

That hearing was Tuesday, with Williams facing the possibility of being taken into custody until her trial begins Feb. 20.

That possibility was largely allayed when all parties agreed that it was difficult or impossible to revoke a bond when the defendant was never arrested and thus never released on bond.

Kepner refused to issue an arrest warrant last July citing deficiencies in the probable cause affidavit accompanying the charges.

Defense attorney Brian Dekker argued that his client's doctor's note was late because she had sent it to his office so that he could file it, but that he was away on vacation.

Jones argued that not only was the note not filed with the court within 10 days, it was not even at Dekker's office within the deadline. It was irresponsible for a retired woman "with plenty of time on her hands" to treat "deadlines as approximations," Jones said.

"If it were the state ignoring orders like this, there would be hell to pay," Jones said. "But when it's the defendant, it's, `Oh, look at her...' There needs to be some repercussions."

Dekker attempted to dismiss concerns about disparate accounts about William's early December illness.

"She's having exploratory surgery on the nineteenth of this month based on what they did that day," Dekker said about a doctor's appointment that did not occur until Dec. 5. "We're set for trial on the twentieth (of February), we're here, we're ready to go."

Kepner said he will give his decision on the contempt motion for not having the doctor's notice on time within a few days.

Williams appeared in court Tuesday with medical tubes entering her nose, apparently to help her breathe. Last July, she had part of her lung removed. That surgery prompted a delay in the initial hearing of this case.

Williams has been previously convicted for lying to the court in medical matters. In 1999, Williams claimed falsely that a "doctor" gave her permission to give her then 15-year-old son Miguel Campos pills from her Xanax prescription. Xanax is sometimes prescribed for those with depression.

She also was convicted of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

This is the second time Williams has faced neglect charges connected to Nicolas. In October 2002 Williams was arrested and charged because of the two-days delay in notifying police Nicolas was missing.

Those charges were dropped about a month before she was to go to trial last June and one month after Nicolas' skeleton was found in an Illinois cornfield.

"Finding the body changed everything," Benton County Prosecutor Jud Barce said at the time about the dismissal.

Key dates in the Nicolas Zavala case

· February 2002: Margaret Williams takes temporary custody of her grandson, Nicolas Zavala, 11, who has spent much of his life moving in and out of foster homes in Illinois.

· Aug. 4: Williams drops Nicolas off outside the closed Oxford Public Library to meet friends for a camping trip. Williams later tells police she did not wait to see him off and doesn't know the names of those he was supposed to meet.

· Aug. 13: Williams tells the Benton County Sheriff's Department that Nicolas is missing.

· Oct. 23: Investigators search Williams' home at 303 W. Vine St., Oxford, for clues related to Nicolas' disappearance. Police discover what appears to be blood spatter, and a sample is taken for testing. Williams is charged with felony neglect, for allegedly not knowing Nicolas' whereabouts.

· March 18, 2003: Investigators confirm that the blood found on carpet in Williams' Oxford home came from Nicolas.

· April 18: Farmer in Iroquois County, Ill., immediately west of Benton County, discovers skeletal remains and a skull near Stockland, Ill. Indiana State Police are contacted and have the human remains sent to a lab in Indianapolis for DNA and dental analyses.

· April 28: Indiana State Police confirm through DNA tests that the remains are Nicolas'.