An outstanding testing issue continues to put a pause on a trial date for Jonathan McCoy and Keisha Stewart — who share a number of associated charges related to the death and Will Jackson Road home arson of Trigg County woman Thelma Ileen Barnett.
During Wednesday’s pretrial conference in Trigg County Circuit Court, Commonwealth’s Attorney Carrie Ovey-Wiggins noted that a hair sample serving as pivotal evidence remains lodged with Kentucky State Police — ready for testing, as long as a defense expert is prepared to meet their observation request.
Newly-entered McCoy defender, Wesley Boyarski, is taking over for Audrey Woosnam. She said expert funds have been acquired, and an expert is ready to work with KSP.
Ovey-Wiggins is seeking expedience.
A joint pre-trial conference was set for 1 PM, December 14.
Furthermore, Ovey-Wiggins said she was notified this past Tuesday of a bond violation from Stewart, and based on that, she filed a motion to revoke bond and asked a bench warrant be issued. She also asked for Stewart be taken into custody, pending a hearing next month.
Redd issued a warrant, and Stewart’s defender, Paducah’s Tyler Brown, asked for it to be recalled.
Brown added that the drug test came close to when his client was released into custody, and was still battling a drug problem.
Redd noted that pre-trial services reported Stewart had missed all of the required drug testing during this same time, and Stewart said she had tested through probation and parole.
Redd then added that he wouldn’t back down from a warrant, asked for Stewart to be tested Wednesday afternoon, and set another hearing for November 9.
The number of charges between McCoy and Stewart is lengthy.
Stewart is not charged with Barnett’s murder, but does have one count of complicity to second-degree arson, one count of complicity abuse of a corpse, one count of complicity tampering with physical evidence and one count of complicity burglary, second degree — all related to the Barnett crime.
In a separate Trigg County charge, she has one count of credit card fraud under $10,000.
McCoy, meanwhile, has pending litigation in two counties.
For Lyon County, he has one charge of complicity to receiving stolen property under $10,000 and complicity to arson, second degree.
For Trigg County, he’s charged with one count of murder, one count of kidnapping leading to a victim’s death, one count of second degree arson, one count of tampering with physical evidence, one count of abuse of a corpse, and one count of burglary first degree related to Barnett’s death.
In another separate Trigg County incident, he has one count of tampering with physical evidence, one count of drug paraphernalia, one count of first-degree possession methamphetamine, one count of defrauding benefits greater than $10,000 and one count of displaying an illegal/altered registration plate.
