Judge declares mistrial in Jackson County courthouse shootout
Published 9:51 am Tuesday, February 27, 2007
JEFFERSON (AP) — A judge has declared a mistrial in the case of three men accused of being involved in a courthouse shooting because a deputy who was injured in the shooting handled security screening for potential jurors.
Deputy Kimsey Gray was shot and wounded during an August escape attempt at the Jackson County Courthouse.
The three men — Mark Joseph McCarthy, Joshua Shane Marlow and Bobby Dwayne Martin — were scheduled to stand trial on charges of conspiring to try to escape from the courthouse. A fourth man — Timothy Lamar Jones — was shot and killed during the escape attempt.
Attorneys were partly through the first day of jury selection Monday when the judge abruptly declared a mistrial.
“He’s the one guy you would think they wouldn’t put at the metal detector,” defense attorney Billy Healan said.
Superior Court Judge Joe Booth declared a mistrial after ordering at least two other deputies who are witnesses in the case and who also were working security in the courtroom to limit their contact with jurors.
Gray was not screening visitors at the front entrance of the courthouse early Monday morning, attorneys said. However, attorneys noticed him working there after a lunch break.
Attorneys for the three suspects did not accuse Gray of speaking to jurors. But the deputy should not have interacted with potential jurors, they said.
“I’m disappointed that there’s not more attention paid to detail,” said defense attorney Stephanie Woodard, who represents Marlow. “If this case does nothing, I think it should teach Jackson County that no detail is too small.”
“The courthouse is where he works,” Sheriff Stan Evans said Monday night when asked about the mistrial. “I don’t think he had improper contact with any jurors, and certainly I don’t think he tried to influence any jurors.”
Booth did not set a new trial date in the case, but could do so today, defense attorneys said.
Gray was leading the four men from the courthouse to a jail transport van around 4:40 p.m. Aug. 21 when Jones took the deputy’s gun, which was laying in the van, attacked the officer and snatched a set of keys from him, according to investigators. Jones was shot and killed as he tried to drive off in the van.
Investigators initially said Marlow, McCarthy and Martin sought refuge behind a concrete post in the basement of the courthouse. But less than a week after the shooting, investigators said they learned the three had a plan to escape. Attorneys for the men deny the allegations.