Judge Roy Morgan, Jr. extended Charlie Pittman’s plea cutoff to June 8 and set a new trial date for Sept. 28 due to lack of completed evidence reports from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Crime Lab (TBI).
“We’re close but those reports are not here yet,” said Jody Pickens, assistant district attorney.
This is the second time the plea cutoff deadline has been extended. It was originally March 16 before Morgan delayed it until today, April 27. The trial was originally set to begin May 12.
Pickens said that the ballistics report is finished and currently being reviewed by TBI before being released in a few weeks. Other reports including computer forensics on several seized computers, analysis of blood spatter and analysis of DNA are still outstanding.
Pickens said that according to the Jackson Police Department, evidence for the Pittman case is third or fourth in line for TBI review.
Both Pickens and George Googe, district public defender, agreed the extension was needed to allow the defense time to review the prosecution’s evidence.
“We haven’t seen the large majority of the evidence, and so we aren’t at this time prepared to go to trial or reach a plea agreement,” Googe said. “From my point of view, I’m not comfortable [with a May 12 date]. There’s so many components we don’t have.”
He also said he was surprised at the continued TBI backlog.
“It’s not too unusual in a case this serious to have some delays…what is unusual is the TBI backlog,” he said, citing the Holly Bobo case as a possible reason for the slow progress.
Morgan originally asked Pickens and Googe if the trial could be set on Sept. 22. However, Pickens said Barry and Tina Greenlee requested a later date, as their daughter, a witness for the prosecution, is scheduled to give birth that week.
Pittman is charged with first degree murder and tampering with evidence in connection with the February death of his fiancée, Olivia Greenlee. He entered a not-guilty plea at his arraignment Nov. 10, 2014, and remains in custody though bail was set at $1 million during a Feb. 9 hearing.
Greenlee was found dead Feb. 12, 2014, in her 2001 Toyota Corolla in the parking lot behind Luther Hall, an auxiliary building on Union’s campus. A 9mm handgun was found inside the locked car, and the preliminary cause of death was a single gunshot wound, according to the affidavit of complaint.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled the name of Jody Pickens
