Trial date set for suspect in fatal crash

Claude David Merritt, 65, of Tollgate Road, will be tried Nov. 9 and 10, Circuit Court Judge Robert Crigler said Monday.

Merritt has been charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, two counts of reckless endangerment and driving on a revoked license, third offense in connection with an accident that claimed the life of Mildred Misch on Oct. 17, 2008.

The indictment against Merritt, handed down in May, said that death was the result of his intoxication and that he had three prior DUI convictions,

The crash occurred in front of Heritage Medical Center when Merritt's van struck a station wagon in which Misch was a passenger. Police said at the time that Merritt "didn't know what had happened."

Merritt also had veered into the path of the vehicle driven by James Earl Hill Jr. Hill and another passenger, Susan Martin, were treated at Heritage after his car ran off the roadway, down an embankment and into a field following impact, police said at the time.

Misch was airlifted to Vanderbilt Medical Center's trauma center after initial treatment at Heritage, but she died of her injuries.

Merritt was initially charged with DUI (fourth offense) and driving on a revoked/suspended license and admitted to police he had consumed several beers.

Robbery trial

A man charged with aggravated robbery has also had his trial date set.

Richard Lowell "Rick" Blanchard II, 45, of North Main Street, will appear Sept. 14 before a jury.

Blanchard allegedly took less than $100 from the cash drawer at the Kangaroo store at the Madison Street-Deery Street intersection in March. Blanchard allegedly pointed a knife at clerk Frank Dickerson and demanded that he open the cash drawer.

Dickerson attempted to slam the drawer on the robber's hand and threw a can of beer at him as he left the store, striking him in the head. The alleged incident was caught on video.

Blanchard told the Times-Gazette in 2005 he had been paid $15,000 a month while working as a civilian contractor in Iraq earlier this decade. He had been a private security officer protecting American security engineers who were disposing of Saddam Hussein's arsenal in Fallujah.

While in Iraq, he was part of a convoy held by U.S. Marines for 72 hours for allegedly firing weapons indiscriminately and speeding. He was cleared of all alleged wrongdoing after a Navy investigation.

Since his return from Iraq, he has been arrested several times by Shelbyville police on charges ranging from assault to resisting arrest and leaving the scene of an accident, according to police records.