After 16-years, a cloud of suspicion has been removed from a Cadiz man who was charged in connection to the murder of Chantell Humphries.
Trigg Circuit Court Judge C.A. “Woody” Woodall issued an order Thursday granting Claude Russell’s motion to dismiss for a speedy trial and due process violations. The motion was filed by Russell’s defense attorneys, John Stewart of Montgomery County, Tennessee and H.B. Quinn in December 2018.
Stewart tells the News Edge they are very elated with the ruling and that the court agreed with the defense that over the passage of time, including when Russell was initially indicted, that he has been deprived of his constitutional right to a speedy trial and due process of law.
In addition, Stewart says another factor is the length of time this case was in the Court of Appeals.
Stewart says he has not spoken with Russell about the ruling.
Judge Woodall acknowledged in the order that the victim in this case, Chantell Humphries, was brutally murdered in Trigg County on June 24, 2002. Unfortunately, he says “nothing this Court or the justice system does can change the tragic facts and terrible impact that such a murder had on Humphries’ family and friends and the entire community”. He adds “nothing will replace her lost life or heal the scars left by absence.”
Russell was first indicted in November 2002 and an order was entered in April 2003 dismissing the indictment. A second indictment was returned in July 2011 and Russell stood trial which ended with a hung jury in September 2012. Before an April 2017 could be held, former prosecutor Tim Coleman filed an appeal on some evidentiary rulings in the case. The Court of Appeals sent the case back to Judge Woodall in late 2018.
The order issued Thursday by Judge Woodall dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it is dismissed permanently and Russell cannot be tried on the same charges in the future.
