DNA from '02 case to undergo new tests

A rape and kidnapping case against a Tullahoma man has been continued so DNA evidence can be retested.

James Lynne Stewart, 51, was scheduled to stand trial this week on charges of especially aggravated kidnapping, aggravated rape, aggravated assault and theft over $500 in connection with an alleged incident in 2002.

However, an agreed order signed last Friday resulted in a continuance in the case "so that the state of Tennessee may have DNA testing done on certain physical evidence."

According to assistant district attorney Mike Randles, a retest of the rape kit from 2002 has been requested and will be completed by a private company instead of going through the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation crime lab.

Randles said that DNA testing currently available is better than it was previously and that the new test may detect evidence that was overlooked before.

Stewart's attorney, Robert Marlow, told Circuit Court Judge Robert Crigler on Wednesday that he had not spoken to his client since the agreed order was signed last week because he has been handling another case in Nashville.

Marlow said that he and Stewart will return to court on Dec. 21, as which time his client will either make a decision to plea or go to trial.

Crigler also set a date of Feb. 25-26 for Stewart's trial, should he choose not to make a plea. Stewart did not appear in court on Wednesday.

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 cheek 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.

Randles said that another Tullahoma man, Chris Grunder, was apprehended the day after the incident by authorities and was later convicted and sentenced to 29 years in prison.

Stewart is being held at Bedford County Jail under $190,000 bond and already had 20 days in jail tacked on for contempt after making remarks and walking away from Crigler's questioning about his legal representation during his arraignment in June.