Fred R. Pewitt, after serving more than 30 years on a murder and kidnapping conviction out of Jasper County, will still be tried in Porter County for firing a gun at a sheriff’s deputy during a pursuit on Oct. 20, 1994.
Porter Superior Judge Jeffrey Clymer on Wednesday denied Defense Attorney Jesse Harper’s motion to dismiss the case against Pewitt because it violated criminal trial rules and the U.S. Constitution and Indiana’s Constitution regarding the right to a speedy trial.
“Clearly this case raises interesting Constitutional issues,” Clymer said.
And the judge also acknowledged that more than “30 years is one heck of a long time.”
However, Clymer rejected Harper’s arguments that his client should be released.
Clymer found that Porter County officially started its case on April 10, 2026, when the arrest warrant from the 1994 Porter County case was served to Pewitt at the Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. He was scheduled to be released on April 13, but instead was transferred to the Porter County Jail where he is being held on $100,000 bond.
Porter Superior Judge Thomas Webber, who is deceased, had originally signed the Porter County charges for Pewitt in December 1994 for attempted murder and resisting law enforcement. An arrest warrant, though, was never served.
The charges accused Pewitt, who had hijacked a pickup and forced a man at gunpoint to drive, of firing his gun at a Porter County Sheriff deputy’s cruiser that was pursuing him on Oct. 20, 1994 near the Porter and Lake County line. The deputy was not struck, but a bullet was found to have glanced off his cruiser door, court records show.
Harper said the case should be dismissed because a trial should have taken place by Dec. 12, 1995.
But, since the warrant was not served until April 10, 2026, the speedy trial provisions under criminal trial rules, the U.S. Constitution and Indiana Constitution were not activated, Clymer said.
Harper had argued that Porter County knew where Pewitt was all these years, but had neglected to try the case.
However, Clymer said that Pewitt bore some responsibility for inquiring of Porter County authorities about the status of his case.
Pewitt, now 51 and formerly of Hammond, was only 19 when he was arrested on the cases from Jasper and Porter counties.
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Porter County Sheriff’s deputies had picked up the pursuit of a stolen pickup truck. Pewitt had hijacked a pickup truck and kidnapped a man at a convenience store in Wheatfield, forcing him to drive at gunpoint.
After his capture, Pewitt confessed to the shooting death of Edward L. Murray, 58, at a shack behind a mobile home off Indiana 10 in Wheatfield.
Pewitt was held in the Jasper County Jail and then sent to the Indiana Department of Correction after his conviction.
Clymer said the next step was to determine a trial date for Pewitt, which must be set for within 180 days after April 10, 2026.
Pewitt watched the court hearing via video feed from the Porter County Jail.
Clymer granted Harper’s request that he speak privately with his client and that another pre-trial hearing be set for Sept. 16 to determine the trial date.
Jim Woods is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.