Following considerable deliberations held Wednesday morning in Trigg County Circuit Court, Judge Jamus Redd ordered mediation for August 30 in Lyon County — regarding the case of Illinois man Harold Jett.
Charged with the 2021 Trigg County murder of his aunt, Mary Dullenty, Jett has been incarcerated for nearly three years, a pending trial looming in September.
These last three months, his defense counsel Amie Martinez and Rick Lawniczak have been urging for a motion of continuance be granted, potentially for next May, in order to have more time for review of a comprehensive psychiatric evaluation from the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center be reviewed.
Those overtures haven’t changed, when Lawniczak again told the court that more investigation was needed to clarify details on Jett’s intelligence quotient hovering between 69 and 74, possible drug psychosis and bipolarism diagnoses, and other reportedly inconclusive notes on their client’s mental state.
Stack on the fact another trial involving all litigators is scheduled before September, and Martinez has the Madisonville workload on her shoulders, Lawniczak stated 60-to-75 days before Jett’s jury selection was “impractical.”
Determining Jett’s mental acuity is imperative not only for his defense, but also his prosecution — in which the death penalty can be sought in a capital crime.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Carrie Ovey-Wiggins said concessions could be made, if it meant expediting the process.
At present, if mediation is unsuccessful, a September trial remains on the table.
