Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Judge Granted Postponement of Trial

SNOW HILL -- The trial of a man charged with killing Christine Sheddy was postponed until June, instead of starting as scheduled Tuesday.

A motion filed by the Worcester County State's Attorney's Office said analysis of DNA evidence was not available to prosecutors or the defense 30 days prior to the trial date, as is required.

"Based on the time requirements, they have 30 days with which to request their own expert to look at it," said State's Attorney Beau Oglesby. "This is the most serious and important of cases. We want to make sure it is complete, fair and thorough."

Judge Thomas C. Groton III granted the motion. He cited several reasons to push the trial date to June, noting that Oglesby has only been in office for five weeks.

Oglesby also told the judge that records detailing what documents and information were shared with the Public Defender's Office were "not up to standards."

Oglesby narrowly defeated longtime Worcester prosecutor Joel Todd in last fall's elections. Since taking office, he said he and his staff have done everything they can to share information with the Public Defender's Office in the case, as is required by law.

The defendant awaiting trial, Justin Michael Hadel, is charged with first-degree murder in the case.

Sheddy, a 27-year-old mother of two, went missing from her Pocomoke City-area residence in November 2007. She was considered a missing person for more than two years until police found Sheddy's remains buried in the backyard of a Snow Hill property a year ago.

Shortly after that, Hadel, whose court records show he lives in Texas, was charged with killing her and held in jail.

Hadel's trial was scheduled to take place in December, when former State's Attorney Joel Todd would have tried the case, but was moved to February when the Public Defender's Office said it needed more time to prepare.

Due to the serious nature of the case and the potential of a five-day trial, Groton said the most suitable dates for the trial would be June 13-17.

www.delmarvanow.com

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Records detailing what information and documents were turned over to the defense weren't up to standards? I wonder what that means? Does that mean someone was negligent in not keeping accurate records?

Anonymous said...

Is this going to mess up Hadel's right to have a speedy trial?
Not that I really care because he's right where he belongs. I know of and have heard about this whole bunch of bad actors and if he weren't in jail he'd be out doing something illegal anyway.

Anonymous said...

nobody was negligent with the records. It was not up to Oglesby's standards. Different states attorneys do things differently. Nothing more, nothing less.

Anonymous said...

5:47 how do you know nobody was negligent with the records?

Anonymous said...

Because I know and you dont.

Anonymous said...

oooook well that answers everything case closed

Anonymous said...

No problem...case closed

Anonymous said...

This went from 3 days to 5? Must be because maybe the lawyer will need the 2 days to bring in the parade of witnesses that will try and discredit the main witness which shouldn't be too hard from all I've read about him on Blink on Crime.

Anonymous said...

You know if Blink said it it's got to be true-LOL! Hey this site is all over the Orlando/Casey Topix site.