A judge rejected a defense lawyer’s bid Thursday to delay the trial for a man charged as an accomplice in a November 2021 Hammond home invasion.
Garrett Whittenburg, 42, of Chicago, is scheduled to go on a trial Monday. It is a bench trial before Judge Natalie Bokota — a jury will not be picked.
Defense lawyer Aaron Koonce, with co-counsel Cipriano Rodriguez, argued prosecutors only resent the full discovery — or case’s evidence — on May 5, which included two other files he recently found in co-defendant Valentine Torrez’s case file.
Prosecutors have offered Whittenburg a possible plea deal, for up to 30 years, if he pleads guilty to rape. After years of court filings, including competency evaluations, Koonce’s bid for a mental health placement for his client was denied in October.
Torrez, 50, may testify next week. He is serving 33 years after he was convicted in May 2024 of rape, a Level 3 felony; child molesting; and criminal confinement — about half his charges. The Indiana Court of Appeals rejected Torrez’s bid to throw out part of his conviction earlier this week.
Torrez initially told police he was a victim, too, on Nov. 13, 2021, when a masked man — i.e. Whittenburg — entered his relative’s unlocked door in Hammond, blindfolded, then sexually assaulted her and the woman’s 12-year-old daughter.
Prosecutors Arturo Balcazar and Lindsey Lanham alleged Torrez helped plan the home invasion with Whittenburg to assault the female relative and take her credit cards.