Frustrations mount in Westview Elementary School rampage case

photo Aaron Roden appears for a status check before Judge Gary Starnes at the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Courts Building on Tuesday.
photo Safety Inspector Frank Bilbrey, left, and Assistant Principal Ruthie Panni examine extensive damage caused by a vandal inside of a portable classroom at Westview Elementary School in August. Aaron Roden, 22, was apprehended and charged by police at the scene early Tuesday morning.

With Tuesday's cancellation of yet another court proceeding, four months have now passed since the arrest of a man accused of rampaging through Westview Elementary School in August.

And still no hearing.

That sets up a new scheduled appearance on Thursday, when Aaron Roden's mental health is expected to take center stage.

Roden's parents have said that he suffers from mental illness, but he has never had a complete mental health evaluation.

The results of a court-ordered mental health evaluation show that Roden is competent to stand trial, General Sessions Court Judge Gary Starnes told the suspect on Tuesday.

But whether Thursday's hearing even goes forward will depend on whether the witnesses who failed to show up for Tuesday's hearing make it to court.

A frustrated Starnes ordered witnesses and attorneys to come back for the new date after two deputies failed to show up Tuesday afternoon.

"Somebody has dropped the ball," Starnes told attorneys Tuesday afternoon.

Roden is accused of tearing apart a Westview Elementary School classroom.

A preliminary hearing was originally set for Nov. 12, but it was moved after two separate mental health facilities did not produce results. Starnes expressed frustration at the slow process then, and voiced even more on Tuesday after two deputies who were supposedly served with subpoenas by prosecutors failed to arrive in court.

One officer reached by the court said he never got the subpoena and was at the gym, but would come if given an extra hour.

"This is a comedy of errors," Starnes said. "I don't understand why it's this difficult to get people subpoenaed and get them in here, particularly when they're police officers."

The judge said he also expected a representative from the school system to be present at the hearing.

Roden's father, Michael Roden, told the judge he had woken at 4 a.m. and driven from Nashville in order to be present at the hearing he thought would start at 8:30 a.m. The hearing was actually scheduled for 1:30, and the elder Roden quickly realized that without witnesses there, his trip had been in vain.

"Then just not happening at all is just kind of salt in the wound," Michael Roden said.

Starnes ordered attorneys and their witnesses to arrive at 8:30 a.m. Thursday to try the hearing again. If they don't show, he said he would reduce Roden's bond, as his attorney Bill Speek requested.

The judge added that he would only allow Roden to be released under some kind of monitoring such as house arrest. Roden is being held in the Hamilton County Jail, with bail set at $350,000.

Starnes looked at Roden.

"You, young man, according to this report, had quite a bit going on and I don't want you to go back to that," Starnes said.

Contact staff writer Claire Wiseman at cwiseman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow her on Twitter @clairelwiseman.

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