![[Shelbyville Times-Gazette]](http://www.t-g.com/images/nameplate-small.png){kind=small}
RSS
Print
Email link
Respond to editor
Read comments (13)
 Donald Ray Sachs was escorted from the Bedford County Courthouse Wednesday after meeting his defense attorney for the first time. Sachs is facing charges of criminal homicide, rape and aggravated kidnapping. (T-G Photo by Brian Mosely) [Click to enlarge] |
Donald Ray Sachs is scheduled to appear in Bedford County General Sessions Court on July 23 at 9 a.m., according to his defense attorney, Kathy Hickerson, who is an assistant public defender for the district.
"We were just appointed today and I just met with him," Hickerson said, but had no other information.
Sachs did not appear in the courtroom but was in custody nearby. Upon leaving the courthouse to be transported back to the Bedford County Jail, he displayed obscene gestures.
Sachs is charged with criminal homicide in the death of 52-year-old Joyce Mattis. Her decomposed remains were found June 4 in a wooded area off Cannon Road.
Mattis was reported missing from Murfreesboro on May 30 by her husband, Neil Mattis, 43. Her body was reportedly found naked, except for her sneakers and socks.
Sachs is the same man who reported finding Mattis' body, according to Sheriff Randall Boyce, with her death allegedly occurring in the same area where the body was found.
Sachs is also facing rape and aggravated kidnapping charges in a separate case involving a woman from Murfreesboro last month. Those charges were filed on June 5, the day after Sachs claimed he found the body of Mattis, Boyce said.
According to Boyce, Sachs allegedly picked up the woman near Ryan's Steakhouse on Old Fort Parkway and brought her to Bedford County, where the rape allegedly occurred.
Boyce said after the alleged kidnapping and rape, the woman was picked up by a motorist in Coffee County, who took the victim to a Tullahoma hospital.
Sachs is currently being held on $1.15 million bond. Upon his arrest in connection with the murder, he waived his right to a bond hearing. He was already being held on $150,000 bond, Boyce said.
"He ain't going anywhere," Boyce said of Sachs Wednesday.
Give this "man" his day in court, and if found guilty, there are several trees on the courthouse lawn that would support a nice public hanging.
Nuff Said
AKA "The Condiment Bomber" 5 or 6 years ago! From what I heard he filled a steel pipe with catsup, mayo, and mustard, sealed both ends and called the police on himself! This was at the Kangaroo store at the highway 64 intersection...
this cat used to work for me. i think he is guilty but i am no judge just a law abiding citzen trying to do the wright thing. he is a thief and a crook
what is so scary is while he lived with us, we had trouble with our transmission on our car. He claimed that it would be easy to fix and instead of us taking it in some place that he would repair it. (being he claimed to be a certified mechanic) So we agreed to let him work on it. Well several hours later, a broken steering colum,and a some what running "better" car we headed off down the road. He said that it should run like a charm and that we needed to take it out on a road and "blow out the exhaust" at a fairly high speed. So not thinking and trusting him we did. Well as we hit @ 55 there was a terrible grinding sound,the car jerked hard,and the right front tire "rim,part of the axel,tire and all" goes flying past us. Trying hard to control the car and a few hundred yards later we finally stopped. Once the car was in a REAL shop they had told us that we were very lucky that some one had cut our brake line and it "looked" like someone had purposely broke the axel. Now that I see all this my thoughts are....were we supposed to be 2 more victims to his messed up world of harm. After this had happened we never saw or heard from him again.
Folks, our laws are set up so that everyone is entitled to a bond. However, there is no law that says that bond has to be affordable. It must only be reasonable in light of the crime committed. Meaning you can't give a $1 million bond for a 1st offense DUI and you can't give a $500 bond on Capital Murder.
This guy was a convicted felon, however, what was his crime? There are driving offenses (not involving alcohol) that are felonies. Wonder what his past offenses were? Also, where was he previously convicted. I promise you if he had a violent conviction in Bedford County he would still be in prison today.
Southernstyle, you are right. Give the man a psych eval so we can prove he's not crazy...that way he can qualify for the death penalty.
Disgusted, remember, the potential jury pool is reading what we write...let's not give grounds for a mistrial. All offenders are given the gift of presumed innocence. The prosecutors do their job to ensure that justice is carried out in a lawful manner. The Constitution guarantees Due Process. Have faith in the system. It will work if given the chance.
I agree that it is a good thing that he is behind bars until he is proven guilty. The evidence so far seems solid. I doubt that there will be much of a problem getting a conviction once the evidence is in.
I also find it hard to go with innocent until proven guilty in this situation. Two women within a few days or week time frame, the guy is a serial killer/rapist in the making!
In some situations maybe we shouldn't be so civilized.
We are a civilized country. Innocent until proven guilty. Having a psychiatric evaluation is protocol and it also ensures that the court system has covered its bases to eliminate appeals on down the road. The judicial system is a process however perfect or imperfect it may be.
www.dnj.com
A hearing set for Wednesday was postponed while he undergoes a psychiatric evaluation, according to a representative of the district attorney's office in Bedford County.
Yea that's it, get him off because he's crazy! He needs to be castrated not evaluated.
I don't know how anyone could defend/represent him and be able to sleep at night. They couldn't pay me enough to take that job!
I totally agree! Why would a repeat felon be given the opportunity to kill again. It seems a judge would take overwhelming evidence against this creep into consideration before setting a bond for him.
He shouldnt be able to go nowhere. That iswhat is wrong with the world today. People like him wonder the streets trying to find there prey. He shouldnt even have set a bond for him. People like that man should rot under the jail.