HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A Cabell County circuit judge said Wednesday he intends to choose a jury in Mingo County for a high-profile murder trial.
Judge Paul Farrell told prosecutors and defense attorneys during a pretrial hearing for Tennis Maynard to prepare for the trial to be in Williamson beginning March 4, 2014.
“The judge made it clear that we’re going to try to pick a jury in Mingo County and attempt to find 12 objective jurors and if that’s not possible the judge is going to look elsewhere, probably Cabell County,” Kanawha County Prosecutor Mark Plants, the special prosecutor in the case, said.
Maynard is charged in the April shooting death of Mingo County Sheriff Eugene Crum. The popular was shot in the head as he was eating lunch in his cruiser in Williamson. Maynard drove from the scene and was shot several times by an off-duty deputy just minutes after the Crum shooting. He suffered critical injuries but survived. He’s now in the Western Regional Jail.
Plants was appointed to the case after former Mingo County Prosecutor Michael Sparks recused himself just days before he resigned. Sparks faces federal corruption charges in a separate case.
Plants said his office has done a good job catching up and the investigation continues.
“We’re using an independent investigator from the State Police to leave no stone unturned, following every lead,” Plants said.
Judge Ferrell ordered a mental evaluation for Maynard to find out if he’s competent to stand trial.
“We anticipate to be ready to go March 4th,” Plants said. “The only issue out there is the mental evaluations. Once they’re completed, they (the defense) have an expert and we’ll have an expert and based on their conclusions we’ll move forward to trial.”
Maynard did not appear in Judge Farrell’s courtroom Wednesday; he was on video from the regional jail.
The judge also said that Plants would stay as the special prosecutor even though a new prosecutor was sworn-in in Mingo County Wednesday.