Even in a snowstorm, the scales of justice still bear weight.
Friday morning in Hopkinsville’s Christian County Circuit Court, via Zoom and other accommodations, Trigg County Circuit Judge Jamus Redd said he would take considerable time to decide on whether or not the planned February trial of Jonathan McCoy and Keisha Stewart needs to remain joined, or be severed.
In tandem, they charged with various offenses related to the September 16, 2020, murder of Trigg County’s Thelma “Ileen” Barnett, as well as the arson of her Will Jackson Road home, and it is McCoy who is saddled with the capital offenses.
And according to McCoy’s defense team of Wesley Boyarski, Christy Hiance and Rick Lawniczak, where those varying degrees of offense could cause problems for both clients, if the trial remained together.
Hiance explained.
As proof, Hiance called Capital Trials West Office Fact Investigator April Rush, who on May 4, 2023, traveled to the Christian County Jail and interviewed Stewart about facts of the case.
Rush testified that, based on that interview and other forms of discovery, Stewart knew, and continues to know, McCoy’s character, his drug use, and his mental state leading up to the allegations. The two were reportedly together “daily,” and in a September 10, 2020, text message, Rush noted that McCoy expressed ideations to commit suicide.
In cross examination from Commonwealth’s Attorney Carrie Ovey-Wiggins, however, Rush said she took notes during this hour-long, cooperative interview with Stewart, but did not audio/video record it. Rush further noted the interview was to get an idea of a possible alibi, while not generating super specific mitigating questions.
Rush also said that Stewart laid out a September 16, 2020, timeline where she and McCoy did go to WalMart in Hopkinsville and later a McDonald’s, before going to McCoy’s in-laws’ house — where she simply waited in the car.
Hiance urged that calling Stewart as a witness in a joined trial with McCoy would simply be “problematic.”
Stewart’s attorney, Katy Riley, agreed — and mainly for two reasons.
Hiance also urged that another co-defendant, Allison Hunter, isn’t currently joined as a third party in the trial. And she’s not sure why.
Almost immediately, Ovey-Wiggins argued that adding Hunter was never an option.
What are Bruton issues? Well, in 1968, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Bruton vs. The United States that a defendant was deprived of his rights under the Confrontation Clause, if a confession by a co-defendant was introduced in their joint trial, regardless of whether the jury received instructions only to consider it against the confessor.
Another point of contention here is that if Redd did decide to sever the trial, whose would be conducted first? McCoy’s, or Stewart’s? Hiance argued that it would make the most sense to try Stewart first and McCoy second, since her testimony would be essential as mitigating evidence in a McCoy trial.
Riley, however, argued that even if McCoy and Stewart did decide to testify on theirs, or the other’s, behalf, there might be intimidation from the other party, and that testimony could be different. Ovey-Wiggins issued that both were denying culpability, neither looking to “point the finger” at the other.
All parties will reconvene at 9 AM Friday, January 17, in Trigg County Circuit Court, where Redd will hear the motion to exclude the death penalty because of one’s mental status, and he still has a major decision weighing on whether to change the trial’s venue from Cadiz.
