Charged with a litany of offenses surrounding the 2020 murder of Will Jackson Road resident Thelma Ileen Barnett, Judge Jamus Redd ruled in favor of the Commonwealth Wednesday afternoon — revoking Keisha Stewart’s bond following the revelation of a failed drug test.
Stewart had been re-incarcerated since October 12, when the Commonwealth’s office filed a revocation notice and a bench warrant ordered against her.
In Wednesday’s hearing, Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Chad Nelson called upon Katrina Wyatt, Pretrial Services officer, as burden of proof for Stewart’s bond violation.
Wyatt wasn’t tasked with serving Stewart and her conditions of release, but she did notice a positive test from Stewart in June, and reported it as soon as possible to authorities.
Defense Attorney Tyler Brown, of Paducah, called on Stewart to explain this — and Stewart offered up a revelation under oath.
She says, in late May, she did drugs in Christian County Jail, and tested positive for methamphetamine after her release.
Nelson rebutted, citing the paperwork filed accounted that a test had been administered in July — and not June.
Brown attested that it was “unfortunate” that Stewart had this positive drug test early on in her release, but that his client had been cooperative with all probation, parole supervision and subsequent testing since late May. Brown added she completed parole last month, and has held jobs at places like Metalsa and T.Rad over the last five months, while qualifying for a drug rehabilitation program through Genesis in Hopkinsville.
He further noted that it’s possible the drug test had been taken in June, not in July, and Wyatt agreed that was possible — and only reported later, creating a different time stamp.
Nelson didn’t buy it. He asked for Judge Jamus Redd to respect the nature of the crime, as Stewart is charged with complicity to second-degree arson, complicity abuse of a corpse, complicity tampering with physical evidence and complicity burglary second-degree allegedly alongside Jonathan McCoy — as well as another unrelated incident of credit card fraud under $10,000.
Redd ruled to revoke because of order and precedent. Stewart had been tasked with not taking drugs, no matter the location or circumstance.
Stewart and McCoy still do not have a trial date set. The next pre-trial conference for the tandem is set for 1 PM December 14.
