Two cases of financial exploitation of an elderly citizen took a weird turn yesterday, as none of the major players in the cases showed up for court.
38 year old Jewell Maul and her mother, 63 year old Joyce Gill, have both been formally charged with financial exploitation of a senior citizen over the age of 80 and in an amount larger than five thousand dollars ($5,000).
Joyce Gill is the wife of Robert Gill, who was convicted of first degree murder in the 2015 shooting of his daughter’s husband – Andrew Maul – and arson for setting the home of Andrew’s mother on fire shortly after fatally shooting him.
Jewell Maul and Joyce Gill are accused of reportedly taking nearly forty thousand dollars ($40,000) from a U.S. Bank account which was held in a position of trust by then-88-year-old Norma Notson. Notson was Robert Gill’s aunt, and she was in he and his family’s care at the time of the alleged illegal bank withdrawal.
The exact amount of money removed from the U.S. Bank account was $39,456.93. According to previously filed court documents, the account contained the entirety of Notson’s life savings.
Maul and Gill were both scheduled for pre-jury trial setting yesterday afternoon. According to court documents, Gill was scheduled to appear in court at 2:30, but there was no sign of her or her appointed public defender, Attorney Tom Piper, in the courtroom. Maul was set for pre-trial conference at 3:30, but by then the courtroom was completely empty. There was no sign of Maul or her hired defense counsel, Attorney Carrie Magerl. In addition, Special Prosecutor Matt Goetten was not present.
The case also changed hands between a number of judges in the Seventh Judicial Circuit at the end of 2018. Judge Ryan Cadigan presided over the preliminary hearings for Maul and Gill on December 7th. By December 18th, the case had been transferred to another judge twice. On December 11th, a motion of substitution was filed and allowed, replacing Judge Cadigan on the cases with Judge John Madonia, the presiding judge in Sangamon County. One week later, on behalf of Seventh Circuit Chief Judge Eric Pistorius, the cases were again reassigned, this time to Judge Adam Giganti. Court documents show the necessary documents were reportedly sent to Judge Giganti on December 18th.
According to a brief conversation with Circuit Clerk for Morgan County Amy Sipes, Judge Giganti said that he did not see the documentation saying that he was due in court yesterday until the day before, being Tuesday the 8th.
There is no word yet, or any new Morgan County Court documentation, revealing when Maul and Gill will next appear in Morgan County Court.