4 years, 8 months ago by Scott Hardy
Re-trial of Steven Gavin delayed to November 12
A Quincy man, charged in the 2015 shooting death of Carlous Wires, Sr., has had his request to move his re-trial out of Adams County denied.
Steven Gavin was in Adams County Circuit Court Friday for a hearing on a change of venue motion for his re-trial on four counts of 1st Degree Murder and one count of Armed Robbery. Gavin's lawyer Curtis Lovelace argued the case needed to be moved due to pre-trial publicity, specifically citing an interview former defense council Drew Schnack gave to Rajah Maples, with our news-gathering partners at KHQA-TV. Lovelace was particularly concerned with Schnack's comments regarding plea negotiations conducted while a jury was deliberating in the first trial. That trial ended in a hung jury in February after 13 hours of deliberation.
Judge Robert Adrian denied the motion, but did say that extra steps would be taken during jury selection regarding potential jurors' knowledge of the case. Gavin was due to be re-tried on the Murder counts September 9th. That's been moved back to November 12th, after Lovelace said he needed more time. Gavin's accused of shooting Wires in his North 4th Street home in November 2015, in a disagreement over the price of a drug sale.
He'll also be tried in November on one count each of possessing a weapon in a penal institution and intimidation. Gavin's alleged to have had a home-made knife in his cell April 27th, which was found during an inspection. He’s also accused of telling Adams County jailers in early May that he'd kill any inmate who was put in his cell. Gavin's pleaded Not Guilty to those charges.
He's in the Adams County Jail on a total of $5.5 million bond.
