Suspect to be returned to Tennessee

Published 10:57 pm Thursday, September 7, 2006

A Tennessee man sought for questioning in connection with a fatal shooting in Nashville agreed to extradition from Whitfield County to Chattanooga on Thursday.

Larry Anthony Wade, 28, of Nashville, was being held in the Whitfield County jail on a number of charges following a high-speed chase on Tuesday that authorities said began in Chattanooga and ended in Gordon County, where Wade was arrested by state troopers from the Dalton post.

Wade appeared before Whitfield County Magistrate Judge Sidney Baxter and signed a waiver of extradition on Thursday. Wade was charged with assaulting a police officer in Chattanooga and will face extradition on a warrant for aggravated assault.

Metropolitan Nashville Police spokesman Don Aaron said Wade is wanted for questioning about the May 23 murder of 38-year-old Cheryl Denise Phillips at a graduation party. Aaron said no warrants or charges have been filed against Wade in Nashville.

Aaron said Wade refused to cooperate with Nashville detectives when they attempted to question him on the night of his arrest in Gordon County.

Baxter said the district attorney’s office would finalize the extradition today.

Wade is charged here with fleeing police, reckless driving, improper turning, hit and run, driving on divided highways, disregarding traffic signals, following too closely, exceeding the speed limit and possession of drugs. Baxter granted Wade a $10,000 bond on those charges.

Ted Smith with the Whitfield County public defender’s office accompanied Wade at the hearing. When Smith asked Wade if he had a lawyer in Tennessee, Wade nodded.

Wade was led into the small courtroom at the jail in handcuffs. He smiled from time to time at different deputies and the judge during the hearing.

Officials said when Wade was confronted by police in Chattanooga he fled onto I-75 and headed into Georgia. Local troopers picked up the chase at mile marker 341 near the Tunnel Hill/Varnell exit. Wade was arrested at a rest area near mile marker 318 in Gordon County.