Trial has been delayed once against in the assault case against Travis Mayes, after arguments about new evidence took place in Christian Circuit Court Wednesday morning.
Public defender Doug Moore represents Mayes—who is accused of shooting Darrell Bateman on East Second Street in February of 2020—and expressed frustration that the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office was attempting to put new cell phone evidence into the trial after it was only discovered a week ago. He argues that the Commonwealth has twice said they’re ready for trial and have had that cell phone for roughly two years, but this evidence has only come up now, meaning he needs more time to go through the evidence and retain an expert.
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Stephanie Bolen argues that the evidence proves Mayes’ alibi was false, and if it had been beneficial to Mayes, he wouldn’t be trying to suppress it.
Moore argued that he had no way of knowing if anything was beneficial, because he hasn’t had time to begin to review it all.
Judge Atkins questioned why it took so long to search the cell phone for evidence, if it was vital to the case.
Mayes wanted to move forward with trial, which was set to begin Monday, but Judge Atkins ultimately decided to delay trial until July 7, to give more time for evidence review. Trial has been delayed once before due to the victim in the case failing to appear for trial.