Trial dates set for kidnapping suspect

Several people with matters in Bedford County Circuit Court had trial dates set or had their cases continued on Monday.

Trial dates for a Tullahoma man accused of kidnapping and other charges have been set.

James Lynne Stewart, 51, goes to trial on Dec. 8 and 9 on charges of especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated rape, aggravated assault and theft over $500 in connection with an alleged incident in 2002.

A pre-trial hearing in his case has also been set for Nov. 16.

Stewart is being held at Bedford County Jail under $190,000 bond. According to warrants filed in General Sessions Court, Stewart allegedly raped a woman in her vehicle on Aug. 16, 2002 in Bedford County.

The warrant read that "during this confinement, he (Stewart) did assault the victim and she did suffer serious bodily injury. Her left check was fractured and also did require three stitches and also required a stitch in her nose."

The warrant stated the victim "also had bruising, cuts and scrapes all about her head area."

The vehicle was allegedly taken from the victim in the Normandy area and found abandoned in the Bi-Lo parking lot in Tullahoma the next day by Tullahoma police, the warrants allege.

Stewart already faces 20 days in jail for contempt after making contemptuous remarks and walking away from Circuit Court Judge Robert Crigler's questioning about his legal representation during his arraignment in June.

Molestation case

The case against David Wayne Phillips, who is accused of several crimes of a sexual nature involving children, has been continued until Oct. 26.

Phillips is charged with rape of a child, two counts of aggravated sexual battery and four violations of the sex offender registry.

Detective Becky Hord of the Bedford County Sheriff's Department testified in July about the investigation that led to Phillips' arrest, saying that she had been looking for him since December 2008 after Phillips allegedly failed to report in, as he was required to do four times a year as a registered sex offender.

Hord testified that in February, while Phillips was working for a local trucking firm, he allegedly allowed a child to ride in the truck where he allegedly committed two sexual acts leading to the charges of rape of a child.

The two counts of aggravated sexual battery stem from alleged incidents in which Phillips is charged with touching two Shelbyville children.

The four counts of violating the sex offender registry are due to Phillips allegedly failing to report changes of living arrangements, providing false information about his whereabouts and violating his residential restrictions by living with two children.

Vehicular death

No pre-trial motions were heard Monday in the case against Claude David Merritt, 65, of Tollgate Road, who will be tried before a jury on Nov. 9 and 10.

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 a 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.