Lookout Valley suspect to remain in jail on new assault charges

Defense attorney Martin Levitt, right, talks with defendant Jacob Allison, center, during a hearing Friday, Aug. 22, 2014, in juvenile court in Chattanooga.
Defense attorney Martin Levitt, right, talks with defendant Jacob Allison, center, during a hearing Friday, Aug. 22, 2014, in juvenile court in Chattanooga.

An 18-year-old accused of first-degree murder in a 2014 homicide will remain in custody until his next hearing three weeks from now.

Normally, defendants are entitled to a hearing within 10 days of their arrest in Hamilton County's lower courts.

Jacob Allison, however, was already on supervised release for his alleged role in the 2014 Lookout Valley triple homicide when he was arrested Friday night on assault and vandalism charges.

As a result, attorneys rescheduled his next court date for Feb. 16 today in General Sessions Court.

"He's going to be in custody for a while," assistant district attorney David Schmidt said. "So I don't believe the 10-day rule is really relevant. Therefore, we can put this case out a couple of weeks."

Prosecutors say Allison, then 15, drove Derek Morse and Skyler Allen to an RV lot off Kellys Ferry Road on April 9, 2014. There, Morse and Allen allegedly opened fire, killing three men and wounding a fourth.

Allison was indicted separately from Morse and Allen after a judge decided he would be tried as an adult that fall.

Though he made bond, Allison was arrested again in May 2015 for failing to tell authorities he left the state and then leading police on a high-speed chase that ended in Montgomery County, Ala.

In May 2016, he was released on furlough to his father's custody in Dade County, Ga., records show.

Last week, however, police said Allison beat up his girlfriend's brother with a baseball bat in a Food Lion parking lot.

With his furlough revoked, attorneys agreed to send Allison to Silverdale Correctional Facility, where he will remain for "security reasons," Sessions Court Judge Gary Starnes said today.

Though attorneys were not immediately available to comment on those reasons, records show that co-defendants Morse and Allen are sitting in Hamilton County Jail without bond.

They are scheduled to go to trial together May 30 in Hamilton County Criminal Court.

This is a developing story. Check back later for more details.

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