Trial has been delayed by a few weeks in the case of Travis Mayes—the man accused of shooting Derrell Bateman in February—due to COVID-19 quarantines.
Both the public defenders and the prosecuting attorney involved in the case will be in quarantine when trial was set to start on Monday, and then due to scheduling conflicts, the attorneys are unable to go to trial in the last week of October. Mayes argued for the trial to happen by Zoom conference, saying it’s not his fault that people are in quarantine and he shouldn’t be the one punished for it.
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Bolen says that she understands everyone’s frustration, but a pandemic is not a reason to let Mayes out on bond.
Circuit Judge John Atkins denied a bond motion to let Mayes out on an ankle monitor—when Mayes demanded to know why he couldn’t go to trial Monday, Atkins explained that the mandatory quarantines and pandemic procedures were to blame, which cannot be helped.
Trail is now set to begin on November 5, with the judge telling all parties to let him know if they came an agreement on a different arrangement. Mayes is currently in the Christian County Jail on a charge of first-degree assault. He is alleged to have shot Bateman in the abdomen at the intersection of East Second Street and South Vine Street in February of this year.