Will accused kidnapper Andre Kennedy get out of jail? A Hind County grand jury indicted Kennedy on February 26 for kidnapping, armed robbery, and burglary. Kennedy and
his accomplice Edwin "Guttalife" Robinson (allegedly) kidnapped and robbed a doctor from his
Ridgewood home early on a Saturday morning, May 16, 2015. However, Kennedy has not been arraigned. His attorney, public defender Chris Routh, filed a motion to dismiss on April 19. The motion is posted below. Earlier post and copy of indictment.
The doctor is lucky he was not killed that dark morning. He was going to his truck when the two thugs jumped out of a car and held him up at gunpoint around 7:30 AM. The two hoodlums forced the doctor to drive to an ATM and then to some
woods on Eastover Drive and Pinewood. They robbed him of $1,500 and
told him they were going back to his home to do some unmentionable
things to his wife. He managed to jump out of the vehicle and grab a
pistol behind the seat. Guttalife went to the gutter as the good
doctor pumped him full of led while Kennedy fled. The victim was
ironically packing his truck to attend a shooting competition at
Magnolia Pistol and Shooting Range when he was kidnapped. May 2015 post.
JPD caught Kennedy several days later thanks to tips provided by JJ readers and charged him with capital murder, armed robbery, and kidnapping. However, the grand jury did not indict Kennedy for capital murder. Kennedy was an MDOC employee at the time of the crime but has since been terminated by the department. Kennedy was indicted eight months after his arrest.
Routh argued that Kennedy had not been arraigned even though 44 days had passed since he was served his indictment on March 7. He stated Rule 8.01 of the Mississippi Uniform Rules of Circuit and County Court Practice mandates that arraignment "shall be held within thirty days after the defendant is served with the indictment." The motion states that the case should be dismissed.
Note: Here is Rule 8.01:
Arraignment, unless waived by the defendant, shall be held within thirty (30) days after the defendant is served with the indictment. At or within sixty (60) days of arraignment (or waiver thereof), the court shall enter an order setting a date for trial. Unless good cause be shown, and a continuance granted by written order setting forth the reason for the continuance, an accused shall be brought to trial no later than two hundred seventy (270) days following arraignment (or waiver thereof).
Arraignment shall be held in open court, and shall consist of (i) reading the indictment to the accused; and, (ii) calling upon the defendant to plead to the charge in the indictment. Prior to arraignment a copy of the indictment shall be served on the defendant. Defendants who are jointly charged may be arraigned separately or jointly within the discretion of the court. If codefendants are arraigned at the same time and charged with the same offense, the indictments need be read only once, with stated identification of each defendant.
In all cases waiver of the reading of the indictment may be permitted if the defendant is represented by an attorney. Arraignment is deemed waived when the defendant proceeds to trial without objection.
Earlier posts
Thugs try to rob competitive shooter & gravely pay for it.
Remembering Guttalife Dee
Remember the DEE!
Meet Andre Kennedy
Murder & kidnapping suspect is a jailer.
JPD arrests Andre Kennedy
Kingfish note: Victor is going to have fun with this one in the comments.
13 comments:
So the DA dropped the ball or the court or both?
String up Ben Allen but let Kennedy walk. Right?
Jackson and Hinds County ARE LOST.
I would like an "A-B-C" on this. No frills, just who, when, and what has brought us to this point and are there any remedies? In other words, who exactly dropped the ball and at what point does this accomplice go free. When you, Kingfish, have done all the footwork, we need to demand that the C-L put it above the fold on the front page.
He should have ben left in the gutter with the other piece of trash.
Generally, the court administrators schedule arraignments. It won't be dismissed.
If Smith dropped the ball on this, there is going to be a S***STORM. I called his office to see if this was the case. I haven't heard back. (I wonder if I will.)
The last time a case was dismissed for failure to provide a speedy arraignment was NEVER
Here's your A-B-C . Judge Weill cancelled court until his administrator returned from maternity leave. Sorry to disappoint the RSS haters. It was your Judge Weill who alone is responsible.
I would say it was the administrator's husband's fault. If he hadn't gotten her pregnant, she would not have needed maternity leave and Weill would not have cancelled court. Let's put the blame firmly where it obviously belongs.
A prosecutor in another county told me that the circuit clerks in some counties schedule the arraignments, in others it is the court administrator. Not putting blame on the DA here as there is not enough information.
However, judging by the spat between the judge and public defender in this case, Routh is probably going to jump all over the Judge every chance he gets.
"Let's put the blame firmly where it obviously belongs."
3:06, when has that ever happened in the city of Jackson?
K-Fish; I don't think 'jumping all over a judge at every chance' is going to be particularly beneficial to the jumper. Do you?
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