Christopher Padgett is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Nathan Deere, a Chattanooga cab driver.The murder trial of Christopher Padgett will continue this morning in Hamilton County Criminal Court with – or without – the 22-year-old defendant in the room, a judge announced.
Though attorneys and family members were prepared to reach closing arguments Thursday, their plans were upended when court opened: Padgett had failed to appear on the third morning of his trial. He cut off his GPS monitor, escaped his mother’s house undetected around 1:43 a.m., and launched a manhunt in Chattanooga and possibly beyond, witnesses said.
Padgett has been in and out of custody for more than four years on murder and robbery charges. In June 2015, while out on bond, he violated his agreed-upon conditions and went back to jail until last Friday, when he made a $350,000 bond and returned to his mother’s apartment in the Bonny Oaks region, outfitted with a GPS monitor bracelet.
The news that Padgett would not appear Thursday was frustrating for prosecutors, who spent two days arguing that in April 2012, Padgett, then 18, called Nathan Deere to 1643 Ocoee St., hopped into his taxi, and shot the 31-year-old man in the back of the head before fleeing with his fares.
“This case has been going on for some time, over four years,” prosecutor Cameron Williams told Judge Tom Greenholtz. “Ms. Deere [the victim’s mother] is here from out of town, and she’s been waiting a long time for a disposition in this case. I want the court to know that. But I feel it is appropriate to continue [Friday] morning.”