Former Niles Officer Wants New Trial

A former Niles police officer is trying to get a new trial in order to have a reduced sentence. Judge Scott Schofield has given Ivery Cross' defense attorney until April 9 and Berrien County prosecutors until April 23 to file new briefs in the case. Cross pled guilty last April to criminal sexual conduct charges and testified last week he did so on the advice of his former lawyer that it would lead to a lighter sentence. Instead of the sentence he expected of up to seven years in prison, Cross given three concurrent sentences of five to 15 years and another concurrent sentence of nearly two years. The "St. Joseph Herald-Palladium" reports his former lawyer, Andrew Burch of St. Joseph, was grilled on the stand late last week by the former officer's current attorney about how he could have been so wrong about the potential sentence. Burch got upset by the questioning, saying it was making it sound like quote, "either I'm just a moron or I intentionally lied to get him to plead."