After an hour and 15 minutes passed from the original trial time, Jerald Honeycutt walked into the courtroom with a smile on his face, plopped himself into a chair and lowered it to its lowest setting.
In July, Honeycutt, 34, was arrested on charges of rape connected to the sexual assault of a 73-year-old woman in Bloomington. After months of delay on his case, Honeycutt showed up to court in his black- and gray-striped jumpsuit, with a full beard and wearing a silver crucifix.
His sentencing hearing was scheduled for Thursday morning, but it didn’t happen because Honeycutt decided last-minute to change his guilty plea. Instead, his new hearing will be Feb. 4.
This was discovered after Judge Marc Kellams asked Honeycutt’s attorney, Jeremy Noel, if he needed more time.
Noel informed Kellams his client had just told him new reasons why he would like to withdraw his guilty plea that would require research and further conversations with Honeycutt.
Representing the State, Darcie Fawcett protested this request immediately stating the court needed to make a record on this case and quit delaying. She said the request needed to be made in writing and that Honeycutt has had since Jan. 4 to prepare this statement.
“Since Jan. 4 the court committed itself to do what needed to be done due to the elderly age of both victims and to protect their testimonies,” Fawcett said.
Fawcett argued delaying the hearing today is putting the State in an impossible position that would require both women to go through depositions and relive their traumatizing assaults.
Kellams agreed the process should be done quickly but said he didn’t feel he could deny the defense time to make this request and therefore set the new date for Honeycutt’s sentencing hearing at 10 a.m. Feb. 4.
“Due process demands that I let the defense do this,” Kellams said.
