Joy Slatton’s trial postponed one more time

Surgery has forced another continuance in the case against former county Trustee Joy Slatton, charged with misappropriating tens of thousands in county dollars while she was in office.

The surgery which forced the delay was not performed on the seven-term county trustee, but instead her lead counsel, Michael Galligan, who underwent knee surgery and would not have been able to stand during the trial, which was supposed to have started Monday.

Instead, the case has been rescheduled for Nov. 13-16 before Special Judge Allen Wallace. The case will be prosecuted by Special Prosecutor Glenn Funk.

Slatton, now retired after not seeking an eighth term last year, is charged with making payroll payments to her daughter and employee, Rene Brown while she was terminally ill and not working in the office. Her other daughter, Gaye Lentz, who also faces theft charges from the allegedly illegal use of county money, was also allegedly paid for time she was not at work.

The alleged fraudulent payments were caught by an auditor who visited Slatton’s office and determined the payment receivers were not there on days in which payroll reflected they were paid for working.

The defense maintains there were ‘legitimate explanations’ for her actions and that former District Attorney Dale Potter should not have pushed the indictments since Lentz was his ex-wife and Slatton his ex-mother-in-law. The court has found no wrongdoing on Potter’s part and has overruled a request that the pair avoid trial by receiving pre-trial diversions as Special Prosecutor Funk maintained Slatton ‘used the county treasury like it was her own pocketbook’.

The new trial date is the third separate date set for the trial. The first date was delayed due to Galligan being in a federal trial and one of his legal partners on vacation. The defendants remain free awaiting their trial dates, which may end up being separate by the time November rolls around as there has been talk of trying the pair separately.