The jury trial for Chase Simmons, the person charged with two counts of murder and one count of second-degree assault for the Whitesville triple shooting in 2019, has been postponed until June after new “significant” testimony was provided last week. The trial was supposed to begin Tuesday.
The new trial date was set for June 13, with the next court appearance scheduled for June 6 as a pretrial conference at 1:30 p.m. in the courtroom of Daviess County Circuit Judge Jay Wethington.
Simmons was 17 when the incident occurred on June 1, 2019. He was arrested three days later. The Daviess County Sheriff’s Office charged Simmons with the murder of 16-year-old Amarius Winstead and 18-year-old Jasper Brown. Simmons was also charged with second-degree assault because Tyler Glover, 19 at the time, was also shot but recovered from his injuries.
Local attorney Bryce Caldwell is serving co-counsel for Simmons. Caldwell said Monday their motion regarding the late evidence included two options. The first was to exclude the evidence from new testimony recorded last week. The second was, if the testimony is going to be allowed, to reschedule the trial to allow the defense to investigate and prepare for that evidence.
According to the motion filed by Caldwell, “On Friday, April 15th, 2022, at approximately 10:30 a.m. CST, the Commonwealth provided an audio and video recording of an interview with an individual allegedly providing eye witness testimony to the events as alleged in the indictment” of the case against Simmons. “While the individual provided a limited interview to law enforcement, in this matter, early on in the investigation of this matter, no additional statement had been provided in this case until April 14th, 2022.”
According to the motion, the date stamp time of the video indicates that it was recorded at approximately 9:30 a.m. on April 14.
“The statements provided in this interview presents several issues, which are material to the defendant’s defense of these allegations that have not been issues since the inception of the criminal action,” the motion reads.
Caldwell said the interview with the witness has a “significant” impact on the defense that has been prepared.
“There was nothing in the discovery, even in the brief statement that (the witness) made, that would indicate or give any suspicion that (they) would say what (they) did on that video,” Caldwell said.
Daviess County Commonwealth’s Attorney Bruce Kuegel stressed that the prosecution did not have the information until last week. He also noted the witness is represented by separate counsel.
Kuegel admitted it was a “significant” statement for the case.
Wethington denied the defense’s request to exclude the evidence but granted the request to reschedule the trial.
Wethington also addressed the victim’s family members and friends who were in attendance Monday. Previously, they have shown up wearing T-shirts in support of their lost loved ones.
Wethington said while he encourages people to attend and participate in the trial, he will not allow such T-shirts during the trial to ensure no jurors are affected. He said they are welcome to wear shirts to any court appearances prior to the trial.
“The law requires that I make sure that the only evidence that this jury hears is from the courtroom, not by what people advocate, not by any pickets or any T-shirts,” Wethington said.
A motion by the prosecution regarding “evidence of other crimes the defendant has been convicted of” pursuant to KRE 404(b)(1) was also filed last week but has been postponed.
According to the motion by the Commonwealth, the crimes Simmons has been accused of “were committed by shots fired from a semi-automatic Glock 9mm” handgun. According to the motion, images were recovered from the defendant’s phone following his arrest and showed that he was in possession of multiple firearms.
Per the motion, “The Court is requested to find that while evidence of other crimes, wrongs or acts is not admissible to prove the character of the person in order to show action and conformity therewith. Evidence of other crimes can be offered to show proof of motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, identity and absences of mistake or accident. In this case, the allegations involve the use of a Glock handgun. Therefore, the Court is requested to allow the introduction of the photos showing the defendant in possession of multiple firearms, two of which are Glock handguns.”
A hearing regarding whether or not to allow that evidence is expected to take place on June 6 during the pretrial conference.
