Jesse Mathews enters Judge Barry Steelman's courtroom Tuesday. Mathews, who is accused of killing Sgt. Tim Chapin, attended a hearing on Tuesday to hear Steelman set a date for his trial.A Criminal Court judge set a trial date in the death penalty case against a 26-year-old man charged with killing a local police sergeant.
The felony murder trial of Jesse Mathews is scheduled to begin on Jan. 22, 2013, before Judge Barry Steelman.
Defense attorneys Lee Davis and Bryan Hoss have requested a jury from outside of Hamilton County to hear the case, due to ongoing publicity surrounding the April 2 shooting.
Police say Mathews shot and killed Chattanooga Police Sgt. Tim Chapin as the officer attempted to stop him from fleeing a botched robbery of the U.S. Money Shops on Brainerd Road.
Mathews fled a Colorado halfway house after being accused of committing three robberies in February, came to Chattanooga with the help of a girlfriend and his sister, Rachel Mathews; his mother, Kathleen Mathews; and father, Ray Vance Mathews, according to court documents.
They have pleaded guilty in federal court to aiding him while he was a fugitive from Colorado in the weeks leading up to the alleged money store robbery.
Sentencing hearings for Mathews' family and Poteete are scheduled for Feb. 13, 2012.
For more see tomorrow's Times Free Press.