Mother of convicted murderer keeps trial files, judge threatens felony charges

FORT WAYNE – A woman jailed for refusing to return a 13-volume court record of her son’s 2006 murder trial has rejected a judge’s impassioned plea to turn them over.\n“Give them back to the court, ma’am,” Allen Superior Court Judge Fran Gull told Adela Favela, 58, on Monday during a hearing on the contempt of court charges that Favela faces.\nTuesday marked the 15th day that Favela had been behind bars over her refusal to produce the massive official record of her son’s trial. The file includes transcripts of Daniel Favela’s hearings, the trial and actual physical pieces of evidence related to the case.\nGull refuses to release Favela until she returns the documents, which were given this summer to Favela, who has claimed she paid more than $4,000 for them.\nDuring Monday’s hearing, Favela’s defense attorney, Phil Terrill, asked the judge to release her for 72 hours so she could retrieve the file. Favela’s 17-year-old daughter, Maria Favela, said she has been unable to find the files in her mother’s home.\nMaria Favela said after the hearing that she believed her mother might be trying to protect her brother by concealing the files.\nGull denied Favela’s request to leave jail to find the files out of concern that she might destroy documents.\n“She knows where they’re at, and she won’t even tell her daughter,” Gull said. “This is so, so simple ... Mrs. Favela, tell Mr. Terrill where the transcript is so I can let you go.”\nSpeaking through a translator, Adela Favela said she paid for the files, signing pieces of paper that said the documents would be hers.\nAfter his conviction and 60-year sentence for the slaying of Jeffrey Kramer, Daniel Favela appealed his case. His attorney obtained the official court record and transcript to prepare his case before the Indiana Court of Appeals.\nOn Aug. 28, Gull ordered Adela Favela arrested and held in contempt of court for holding onto the files. She later ordered court officials to re-create the trial transcript.\nAllen County Prosecutor Karen Richards said that Favela might face felony charges if she did not turn over the files.\n“I’m not playing this silly game anymore,” she said.