Trial has been delayed in the murder case against Bobby Spikes, as he awaits DNA testing to come back from the testing lab.
Spikes—who is accused in the December 2021 fatal shooting of Stanley Bussell on Clearman Court—appeared in Christian Circuit Court Wednesday morning alongside public defender Eric Bearden and Hopkins County Commonwealth’s Attorney Kathy Senter, who is the special prosecutor in this case. Senter informed the court she been in contact with the state testing lab, and they said there was no way they would have testing completed by the August trial date, and they weren’t able to provide her with a date of when it would be.
She says she believes that evidence could be beneficial to either the prosecution or the defense. Bearden says he did file a motion for a speedy trial, saying that while he thinks it would be good to see what comes back from the lab, he’s worried they’ll be waiting for far too long.
Judge John Atkins urged both sides to reach out to the lab and impress upon them the urgency in the case, and to find out something from Trigg County—where Spikes is facing possible indictment in the death of 34-year old Candace Marcel of Hopkinsville.
The judge granted the motion for a continuance of the trial date, with the hope of setting a new one for around the start of the new year. Bearden says he intends to file a renewed motion for bond modification, due to the delay.
Hopkinsville police allege that on December 8, 2021 Spikes and his girlfriend called Bussell to a home on Clearman Court to work on a vehicle and that’s when he fatally shot him in the head.
Bussell’s body wasn’t discovered until Marcel was found dead in an abandoned vehicle on Cerulean Road in Trigg County and a search warrant was served at Marcel’s Clearman Court home.
Spikes and Marcel had been in some type of relationship and had once lived together, though they were no longer sharing a home, according a detective who testified at a hearing in December of 2021.