A ruling on a motion to join the cases against Jonathan R. McCoy and Keisha Stewart will have to wait a little longer than expected.
Each sharing similar charges in the potential connection to the death of Thelma “Ilene” Barnett on September 16, 2020, on Will Jackson Road, Commonwealth’s Attorney Carrie Ovey-Wiggins noted during Wednesday’s Trigg County Circuit Court session that she filed for the joining in October of last year.
On Tuesday night, Ovey-Wiggins received a response from McCoy’s defense team — led by Kentucky Department of Advocacy Staff Attorney Audrey Woosnam — disputing this motion. Both Ovey-Wiggins and Woosnam agreed that those concerns can be better addressed once it becomes prudent to set a trial date, and Ovey-Wiggins added she’ll have a response within the next three weeks.
A further motion from the Commonwealth, however, came to light Wednesday, when Ovey-Wiggins revealed that the FBI has discovered some specific evidence.
In due diligence, Woosnam had to object.
If the court, particularly Circuit Court Judge C.A. “Woody” Woodall III, ruled that an independent expert be present for the DNA testing, Ovey-Wiggins said she’d continue those lengthy conversations with FBI authorities.
Woodall stated the argument was an interesting one, and if it were a state case, the circumstances and ruling would be obvious. He said he’d review the motion and seek guidance on precedence and make a decision, one way or another, at a later date.
Following a brief off-the-record discussion regarding ex parte with the defense, Woodall set the next pre-trial conference for July 13.
Stewart later appeared before Woodall alongside solo practitioner and conflict attorney Chip Adams, of Murray, who noted that his client’s bond is currently set at north of $18,000 — and asked for her release from incarceration in order to review the enormous amount of discovery in these cases, most of it located on CD-ROM.
Ovey-Wiggins opposed this notion.
Stewart said, if released, she’d be living with her sister in Hopkinsville while awaiting a trial or resolution. Woodall said the next pre-trial conference, also set for July 13, would be enough time for a clearer decision on this bond motion.
Unlike McCoy, her case isn’t of a capital offense. McCoy has been been lodged in the Christian County Jail and was indicted for murder alongside kidnapping, second-degree arson, tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse charges surrounding Barnett’s death and torching of her home.
In addition, McCoy is facing charges in Lyon County stemming from a 2020 case involving a stolen vehicle and arson incident near Kuttawa.
