A critical piece of evidence must be analyzed and returned to the Commonwealth, before Jonathan McCoy and Keisha Stewart can stand joined in trial for the 2020 death of Trigg County woman and Will Jackson Road resident Thelma “Ileen” Barnett.
Friday morning in Trigg County Circuit Court, Commonwealth’s Attorney Carrie Ovey-Wiggins noted to defense attorneys and Circuit Judge Jamus Redd that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was unable to acquiesce a motion from McCoy’s camp and order from former Judge C.A. “Woody” Woodall III to allow a defense expert be present for the testing of a specific hair sample.
Ovey-Wiggins said that sample has since been returned and received at the Kentucky State Police Crime Lab — where certain conditions of a defense expert can be met.
Stewart’s new attorney, Tyler Brown of Paducah, made his first appearance Friday — after receiving the case from former defender Chip Adams of Murray.
Brown said he’s received most, if not all, of the voluminous discovery, and agreed that this hair simple would be pivotal to the case.
With Woodall ruling for the joinder on McCoy and Stewart’s similar charges, Redd said that it’s his belief that a trial could occur in either December of this year or July of next year — depending on when KSP returns the evidence.
The tandem will next appear in court October 12.
McCoy has a litany of charges at this time. 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. In another separate 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.
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 that crime. In a separate Trigg County charge, she has one count of credit card fraud under $10,000.
