BY KYLE LOVERN
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN
WILLIAMSON, W.Va. — The trial of Timothy Kennedy, accused of murdering West Virginia State Police Sgt. Cory Maynard, is scheduled for December.
On Friday, special Judge Joshua Butcher ruled that a jury would get to see the body-camera footage which allegedly shows Kennedy shooting and attacking Sgt. Maynard.
Also, during the hearing, the defendant’s attorney asked for a change of venue to move the trial from Mingo County. Butcher said another hearing would take place in November to consider this request.
Mingo County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Joshua Ferrell argued against the motion by the defense not to use the footage. Ferrell said the footage would allow the state to show exactly what happened and what was said from Sgt. Maynard’s point of view.
Ferrell stated the camera footage shows Kennedy hiding behind shrubs and ambushing the trooper. He said the footage would show Kennedy’s actions during and after his alleged attack on Sgt. Maynard.
Kennedy’s defense attorney, Steven Mancini, said instead of playing the body camera footage, he would offer stipulations to the jury from Kennedy, now 31 years of age, essentially detailing what he did, rather than having them view the footage.
Law enforcement had responded to the scene after a shots-fired 911 call.
Reportedly, the defense is planning on a self-defense argument in the upcoming trial.
Kennedy faces a 5-count indictment that not only includes the murder of Maynard but the attempted murder of two others that occurred in June 2023. Another victim the defendant is accused of shooting is Ben Baldwin.
“As much as a trial is meant in many ways to defer to a defendant’s ability to offer up a full defense and to have his day in court and be heard, the case is also the state’s and allowing the defendant to control the state’s presentation of evidence as to how it wishes to prove its case doesn’t seem fair in this regard,” Butcher said, according to a WCHS TV News report.
Mancini requested that the trial be moved to McDowell County. He said it would be hard to seat a jury when it is a well-publicized case especially in Mingo County.
As of now, the trial is set to begin with a seated jury Dec. 8.