FORMER MAYOR TAKES MURDER CASE
POST-TRIBUNE
BY: LORI CALDWELL
JUNE 21st, 2006

GARY, A few short months ago, Scott King boasted that as mayor, his police department helped win convictions for all 17 Gary murder trials in 2005.

As citizen King, he hopes to reverse that trend.

King has been retained to represent Isaiah Eskew, one of two brothers charged with murder in the shooting death of Tywon Newsome, 21, in the Wirt High School parking lot during graduation June 6.

“I'm not doing very much criminal work; this case was an exception,” King said Tuesday from the Miller law office he rents from his former partner, James Meyer.

“I spent time looking at the case and I feel I am in a circumstance to help some good young men,” King said.

Isaiah Eskew, 18, and his brother Evan Eskew, 21, are longtime family friends who attend the same church as King and his family, the former mayor said.

“These aren't scums. I've known these kids from being in Sunday school with our kids. Neither one of them has a prior criminal history, adult or juvenile,” he said.

Although King declined to discuss how he will attack the evidence, he said, “It is an eminently defensible case.”

Newsome and Evan Eskew, who dated the same young woman, exchanged angry words inside the school during commencement, witnesses told police. Minutes later, Newsome parked his car near the brothers and a fight ensued.

Witnesses told police Evan Eskew called to his brother saying, “Isaiah, get my gun,” before shots were fired and Newsome was wounded in the chest. He died later at the hospital.

Early in his tenure as mayor, King filed a lawsuit against gun makers, dealers and some sporting organizations, blaming them for the rampant violence in the city. In dozens of public appearances since, he said the easy availability of guns led to the deaths of many young people in the city.

Every year but one in the past 10, Gary has been the homicide capital of the nation in cities of 100,000 people or more.

King said his opinions are separate from his work as a criminal lawyer.

“Service as an attorney is not a platform for the attorney's personal views,” King said.

King met with prosecutors earlier this week. Deputies Judy Massa and Desancic Dimitrijevis will represent the state.

Kelly White-Silvera is representing Evan Eskew. The first court appearance for the Eskews is an omnibus hearing, set for Aug. 2, Diane Poulton, spokeswoman for Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter, said Tuesday.

The brothers were charged with murder and possession of a handgun on school property the day after Newsome was killed. Both are in custody.

Contact Lori Caldwell at 881-3119 or lcaldwell@post-trib.com