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GoogleJury selection has been set for Friday, Jan. 16, with opening arguments commencing Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 9 a.m. at the Moore County Courthouse in Lynchburg in the case against Jacob Wayne "Jake" Riddle.
The case will be heard by Judge Robert Crigler, who said he had no estimate on how long the trial could last. Last year, Crigler originally set the trial for Jan. 19, but it was later noticed that date was Martin Luther King Day for 2009, so the start date was re-scheduled.
Riddle, who was indicted last April on charges of first degree murder in the death of the 20-year-old, entered a plea of not guilty.
Floyd was stabbed in the early morning of Feb. 2 at a party in the Lost Creek area of Moore County near Tims Ford Lake.
During a preliminary hearing last April, witnesses testified about what they saw the night Floyd was killed. One stated that a number of fights occurred during the party, culminating in the fatal altercation.
Testimony from two witnesses stated that a "three on one" fight occurred in which Riddle was attacked by Floyd, whom he did not know, and two other partygoers.
Both witnesses testified they saw Riddle pull a knife. While one of the witnesses did not see the fight that resulted in Floyd's death, the other testified that Riddle allegedly said, "I'll stab him, I'll stab him."
The death occurred in front of Lost Creek Bait Shop, which is across the street from the cabin where the party took place.
According to testimony from one witness who allegedly saw the slaying, Floyd ran toward Riddle, tackled him and a fight started with Floyd on top. Then, Floyd stood up, clutching his chest, walked about 50 feet and collapsed.
The witness stated that Riddle said: "What did I do? What did I do?"
Floyd was a member of the Tennessee Army National Guard and a student at Motlow State Community College.
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Joe was a great guy and had a wonderful life ahead of him. I was a friend of his then fiance and I know how bad this affected all of his family and friends. I hope that justice is served.
I hope and pray so much that justice is served! The Floyd family is a close-knit family and to lose Joseph destroyed them! Tabitha and I are friends and I know that the one thing that could make all of this worse would be for this Riddle "person" to get away with it! My heart truly goes out to Donna, Chester and Tabitha...I love ya'll!!
This is such a tragic situation. I hope that the lessons that can be learned from this are not lost. Based on the staute, it is likely that Riddle will be found guilty of pre-meditated murder. However, the actions of himself and others placed both he and the victim in the situation. Young people need to think about the consequences of their actions before they act. People can die as a result of the decisions we make, as is evidenced in this situation. I pray that the youth of our community re-evaluate their actions in the future to prevent such a senseless death from happening again.
I think 20 years in jail he might grow up!
You people are so quick to judge! It sounds to me this Riddle guy was in SELF DEFENSE! The paper said it was 3 on 1 fight and Mr. Floyd was stabbed, if you were put in that position and were scared for your life what would you do? All I can say is, be careful who you go around picking fights with. I know this is a tragic story and sad but anyone who thinks this guy should spend years behind bars is nuts! I hope the jury sees it this way!
Sounds like self defense to me too.
Dear Topflight,
It is so easy to have an opinion when you hide like a spineless coward, anonymously in cyberspace. It obvious you have never been to any of the court proceedings, and heard all the facts, because all of the facts haven't been presented yet. The paper only reported 2 of 40 witnesses testimony and both were Jake Riddle's friends. And one of those friends testified that Jake Riddle had the knife out 15 to 30 minutes before the stabbing, and said I'm going to stab him, I'm going to stab him. The only fight "my son" was involved in was pulling 2 guys off of another boy. How dare you state that "my son" got what he deserved, and you won't even tell who you are. If you feel you have been insulted in anyway, feel free to take up for yourself. Because my name and number is in the phone book under, Chester Floyd, father of Joseph Floyd.
Dear, Joseph's mother
First of all,no one is hiding in cyberspace, my name is Davis, and for that matter it doesn't matter who I am. I have an opinion and this is a public story and all I was doing was COMMENTING on what I have read. You are excatly right I don't know about court proceedings that have gone on, but like I said earlier I was commenting on this story, just this story!If you have a problem with what I say i'm sorry but the T-G puts this in the paper and this is what I read "According to testimony from one witness who allegedly saw the slaying, Floyd ran toward Riddle, tackled him and a fight started with Floyd on top. Then, Floyd stood up, clutching his chest, walked about 50 feet and collapsed. " Now the way I read that is this= He ran and jumped on him FIRST! That's how that paticular piece of my post came up on how be careful who you pick fights with if it's 3 on 1! I want you to look back at what I said, I never said he got what he deserved , I also said like the rest of the posters said on here, it was TRAJIC and SAD! So please do me a favor and don't call me out on something that the paper publishes and I comment on it, but I do want you to know that i'm sorry for your loss and I do hope lessons will be learned from all of this. God Bless
Dear Topflight,
I appreciate your condolensces, but I have to endure this tragedy day in and day out and to read what you wrote is hard for me put up with. Because no one should have to go through this and have someone to make comments like that. I have people make comments like this all the time on this blog and behind my back. So anyone that reads this needs to look at people feelings, you never know who is reading these.
A lot of comments have been made stressing the fact that Joseph was a member of the Tennessee National Guard and a student of Motlow College. I have great respect for men fighting for our country and a lot of these men were trained to kill. A lot of military men get in trouble just as civilians.Think about it!!!! Both of these young men were at a party, both were drinking, both had knives. Jacob Riddle was defending himself as anyone in that position would do. What would you have done- ? It is sad that a life was lost, but Jacob Riddle's Family has also been dealt with a loss. We all love Jacob and we are there for him, and one thing for sure,we are a forgiving and loving family.There is not a day goes by that we don't pray for both families.We all make mistakes and no one is perfect by any means. I am sure Joseph had a lot of good qualities, just as Jacob does and we all know who we have to answer to and ask forgivness. May God gives us strength and be with both families during this difficult time. Jacob I love you.
Granny Wanda
This is all I am going to say about the situation there was only one knife found. The detectives told us that. My son didn't even carry a pocket knife. I know this has been hard on your family. But it has been a nightmare for us. Yes we do have to answer to a higher power. May God be with us all.
To everyone involved: the paper and the news media NEVER get the story straight & we could all do ourselves a favor and stop reading and watching! The paper and the news Channels both have the facts distorted and the story twisted each & every time they report on it. The tragic facts are families are torn and will never be the same. Talk about being in the wrong place at the wrong time - alcohol, weapons, drugs and violence don't mix!! This situation is a double tragedy no matter how you look at it. May God Bless us all!
TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT I SET TWO FOOT FROM THE TBI AGENT AND HE SAID THERE WAS ONLY 1 KNIFE FOUND AT THE SCENE AND IT WAS THE KNIFE THAT STABBED MY BROTHER. YES MY BROTHER WAS IN THE ARMY BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN THE ODDS OF A FIGHT SHOULD BE CHANGED. COPS AND ALL LAW INFORCEMENT ARE ALSO TRAINED TO KILL DOES THAT GIVE PEOPLE THE RIGHT TO KILL THEM AND IT BE JUSTIFIED NO.DID THAT MEAN TROOPER JENKINS DESERVED TO GET SHOT IN THE FACE BECAUSE OF HIS TRAINING NO!!! I KNOW THE GREAT PERSON JOSEPH WAS AND I HAVE FOUND OUT A LITTLE BIT ABOUT JAKE THROUGH THE PUBLIC RECORDS OUT OF FRANKLIN AND COFFEE COUNTY WHAT KIND OF BALL GAME WAS HE IN HIS 3RD STRIKE WAS A LONG TIME AGO EVERYBODY WANTS TO PUT THERE COMMENT IN BUT WHAT IT BOILS DOWN TO IS YALL CAN SEE JAKE WE VISIT A TOMB STONE EVERYBODY WAS FIGHTING. THE TUESDAY AT COURT AFTER JOSEPH WAS KILLED I DID NOT SEE ONE MARK ON JAKE. DID NOT LOOK LIKE HE WAS INVOLVED IN ANY ALTERCATION THE TBI SAID ALL OF HIS MARKS WAS SELF INFLICTED THATS WHERE SELF DEFENSE IS COMING. AND ANY THAT KNEW JOSEPH KNEW WHAT KIND OF PERSON HE WAS IF U DIDNT KNOW HIM JUST ASK AROUND DONT WORRY YOU DONT HAVE TO CHECK ANY PUBLIC RECORS TABITHA FLOYD PHELPS
Oh my godness. IF PEOPLE ONLY KNEW JOSEPH. I HAVE KNOWN HIM EVERY SINCE ME AND HIS BIG COUSIN.(BIG JOE)BEEN TOGETHER THATS 5 YRS. AND I HAVE NEVER SEEN HIM DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN PLAY SPORTS.AND BE WITH HIS NEPHEW COLE. AND THANKS TO JACOB HE CANT EVEN SEE CODY, OR HUNTER JOE) THATS THE NEW FLOYD KID. AND I KNOW DEEP IN MY HEART THAT JOSEPH DIDNT FIGHT. OR START ANYTHING. AND MY GRANDPA AND MY UNCLE WAS BOTH POLICE OFFICERS. AND THEY DIDNT STAB OR SHOOT SOMEBODY. AND WHAT DO YALL GET SELF DEFENSE FROM. JACOD KILLED OUR LIL JOE FLOYD. YALL GET TO GO SEE JACOB. TABITHA, CHESTER,DONNA, AND THE WHOLE FLOYD FAMILY HAS TO GO TO HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY TO SEE THERE BROTHER AND SON. JACOD DESERVES WHATEVER HE HAS WAITING FOR HIM.. YOU KNOW WHAT THE JUDGE MAY JUST GIVE HIM 15 YRS OR WHATEVER. BUT THE PERSON WHO WILL GIVE HIM THE ULITMATE PAYBACK IS THE LORD ABOVE.
Oh my godness. IF PEOPLE ONLY KNEW JOSEPH. I HAVE KNOWN HIM EVERY SINCE ME AND HIS BIG COUSIN.(BIG JOE)BEEN TOGETHER THATS 5 YRS. AND I HAVE NEVER SEEN HIM DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN PLAY SPORTS.AND BE WITH HIS NEPHEW COLE. AND THANKS TO JACOB HE CANT EVEN SEE CODY, OR HUNTER JOE) THATS THE NEW FLOYD KID. AND I KNOW DEEP IN MY HEART THAT JOSEPH DIDNT FIGHT. OR START ANYTHING. AND MY GRANDPA AND MY UNCLE WAS BOTH POLICE OFFICERS. AND THEY DIDNT STAB OR SHOOT SOMEBODY. AND WHAT DO YALL GET SELF DEFENSE FROM. JACOD KILLED OUR LIL JOE FLOYD. YALL GET TO GO SEE JACOB. TABITHA, CHESTER,DONNA, AND THE WHOLE FLOYD FAMILY HAS TO GO TO HOLLYWOOD CEMETERY TO SEE THERE BROTHER AND SON. JACOD DESERVES WHATEVER HE HAS WAITING FOR HIM.. YOU KNOW WHAT THE JUDGE MAY JUST GIVE HIM 15 YRS OR WHATEVER. BUT THE PERSON WHO WILL GIVE HIM THE ULITMATE PAYBACK IS THE LORD ABOVE.