Court, attorneys ponder way to hold hearing in Lay case
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[Attorneys and Judge Todd Lambert are setting the groundwork for how to hold a hearing on terminating the parental rights of the parents of the late Kalab Lay without the parents actually being present in court.
Authorities in Indiana are unwilling to bring Terry and Amanda Brooks Lay to Saline County for a termination hearing. The Lays are accused of murder -- Kalab, their 3-year-old son, died in March of what Indiana authorities call extensive child abuse. Both are in Vanderburgh County, Ind., jail awaiting trial on the murder charges.
State's Attorney David Nelson has petitioned to terminate parental rights regarding three of the Lays' five surviving children.
The termination hearing here will include witnesses called by Nelson; the parents' court-appointed attorneys, Nathan Rowland and Todd Bittle; and Jason Olson, who is appointed to represent the interests of the children.
The court's problem involves how to balance the need for a hearing, the rights of the parents to participate in the hearing and Indiana's decision not to bring the parents to Illinois for the hearing.
Lambert decided to hold the hearings without the parents present, but to prepare transcripts for the parents to read after the hearings. If the parents want any witnesses questioned or want to call any witnesses of their own, they will be able to do so after reading the transcripts and talking with their attorneys. Their attorneys will be present at all the hearings.
The first hearing is a final pretrial set for 9 a.m. Dec. 2.
Lambert said it is important for the termination hearings to go forward instead of waiting until the murder cases in Vanderburgh County are concluded.
"I don't want these children to hang in the balance until that trial," Lambert said.
If the motion to terminate parental rights is granted, three of the Lays' five surviving children would be put up for adoption. Two of the children are in the custody of Indiana courts.
The children were placed in foster care after an active methamphetamine lab was found by police in the Lays' Eldorado home in 2004. After a period of imprisonment, the Lays moved to Evansville, Ind.
Terry and Amanda Brooks Lay were granted an extended visit with Kalab Lay and his twin sister in December by Lambert. The extended visit in Evansville began Jan. 3, and it ended in tragedy -- Kalab died in late March and his parents were arrested.
The circumstances surrounding Lambert's decision to grant an extended visit are the subject of controversy. The Evansville Courier-Press reported July 16 the visit was against the recommendations of the Indiana Department of Child Services and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
However, a May 13 hearing in Saline County Circuit Court painted a different picture.
A Lutheran Social Services caseworker told Lambert she recommended an extended visit between the twins and parents at an earlier hearing in November 2007. She testified sending the children back to their parents two at a time would allow Lutheran Social Services to stay in the case and see how things are working. She also testified DCFS was not involved in the case when the visit was ordered.
Indiana authorities in 2007 denied an agreement under the Interstate Compact for Placement of Children that would have allowed extended visits, citing Terry Lay's criminal history, according to a June 25 Evansville Courier-Press article. The denial was one of the reasons the same LSS caseworker recommended foster care and possible termination of parental rights in August 2007, the Courier-Press reported. But the LSS caseworker appears to have reversed herself by the November hearing when she recommended an extended visit