A Sequatchie County, Tenn., man charged in the stabbing death of a 24-year-old woman will head to trial this week in Dunlap.
Willard Clifton Land, 74, is charged with first-degree murder in the Oct. 11, 2014, death of Kerry Summer Angel, who authorities said was stabbed twice with a steak knife during a heated argument. One of the wounds was a 5-inch-deep gash that severed Angel's aorta. Land initially was charged with criminal homicide, but the charge was upgraded when grand jurors issued the indictment in January 2015.
The trial is set to begin Wednesday at the Sequatchie County Justice Center in Dunlap, court officials said. Land is represented by a public defender.
A witness told investigators Angel and Land were arguing over pills, described as Xanax and hydrocodone, and that everyone present at the time of the slaying was intoxicated. Land ran away after the stabbing but was caught by deputies in a wooded area nearby.
When Land's indictment was issued, 12th Judicial District Assistant District Attorney Steve Strain said a considerable amount of information was presented at Land's preliminary hearing in the fall of 2014, including DNA evidence from blood samples and the knife believed to have been used in the stabbing.
Evidence from a medical examination of the body and DNA from samples on the knife and at the scene matched the victim's DNA, Strain said.
The killing is not the first death in which Land has been accused. Land spent 15 to 20 years in a California prison on a conviction for murder in the 1970s, according to Sheriff Ronnie Hitchcock.
Land has been held at the Sequatchie County Justice Center since his arrest.
Contact staff writer Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569.