What would’ve been a February trial for the Commonwealth vs. Arnett Baines has been delayed until an undetermined June date after Judge Jay Wethington disclosed concerns with the trial and pending motions.
The trial was initially set to begin on February 5, but on Thursday morning, Wethington said he is concerned with pending motions, among other things, that may cause difficulty conducting the trial to the best of their ability.
Arnett Baines, now 35, is facing three counts of murder charges for the shooting deaths of Robert D. Smith Jr., 35; Jay Michael Sowders, 43; and Christopher Carie, 18 in a 2019 triple homicide. He also is facing a first-degree assault because a fourth person, Carman Vanegas, who was 35 at the time, was also shot in the head but survived.
Wethington’s full statement on the record is as follows:
“The trial in February is hereby continued by my order and I’m gonna file a reason for that.
Number one, the great delay of evidence is in violation of my discovery order by both sides. The inability to adequately address the evidence in advance for trial. I want you all to be adequately prepared and you’re not going to be. It’s unfair to the Commonwealth; it’s unfair to Mr. Baines.
Number two, my courtroom is scheduled to be redone by the end of next week and I have no confidence that it’s going to be finished for the trial. […] Ms. [Sara] Zeurcher, we worked for a hour yesterday trying to get your video played. That’s not your fault because it played, but both of [the videos] did work out and I’m not convinced they’re going to be ready. If they’re not ready, that’s an unfair to Mr. Baines and unfair to the Commonwealth. We’ve had several motions and I wanted resolved much more in advanced. No surprises for the parties, but I wanted no surprises for court anyway. I get motions asking me to re-examine the constitutionality of the death penalty and have it removed as an option and I want to address those and I want the Commonwealth to happen an opportunity to address those and I want to hear your argument without having to worry about a jury in a timely fashion.
Number three, it’s inclement weather. We anticipate that the jurors that I had scheduled to come in this afternoon at 1:30, I’m going to dismiss. The jurors that I have coming in tomorrow are probably going to be dismissed. Mr. [Mike] Van Meter, I’m keeping the jurors on Monday for any other trials you all have scheduled for February. […] This trial is continued. What’s your schedule like for June?”
The motion in reference was made by Defense Attorney Sara Zeurcher who stated there is an expert witness that is prepared to make a statement on whether or not Baines can receive the death penalty due to “a traumatic brain injury.”
Zeurcher noted they had been working to find someone appropriate to conduct the study “for the most part of last year.” Wethington had supplied defense with the funding for the evaluation in August 2022.
Commonwealth Attorney Van Meter said the Commonwealth does not have the documents the evaluation was made based on, Zeurcher said all information except the raw imaging documents is in the Commonwealth’s possession. Zeurcher said she will provide that information to the Commonwealth Thursday.
There will be a hearing on February 5 instead of the trial to discuss other motions and schedule a hearing for the expert witness Zeurcher would like to bring to the stand.
