CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Suspended Mississippi County Sheriff Cory Hutcheson was back in court Thursday for a pre-trial hearing.
A trial for Hutcheson, who is facing first degree robbery charges, is set for April 2. The trial is expected to take five days.
In the brief hearing Thursday, it was decided the jury would be chosen from a pool of 160 prospective jurors. Also, attorneys for Hutcheson and the state discussed a joint motion for the security settings on Casenet. That issue, along with any other pre-trial motions that may come up, will be addressed at 11 a.m. March 8.
The robbery charge was bound over for trial during a hearing June 27 that saw an assault charge along with a making a false report charge dropped.
In the hearing on those charges, Bonnie Woods, an East Prairie beautician who works at her sister Joyce's Salon, testified that Kasey Hall, a relative of Hutcheson, had worked as a beautician at the same salon.
Hall had planned to open her own salon, and was leaving the employ of Joyce's Salon. Woods testified that Joyce's Salon owed Hall some money for wages and that she was holding Hall's check. Woods said the check was going to be given to Hall when she returned some pages from her appointment book.
According to Woods' testimony, Hutcheson came to Joyce's Salon March 24 to pick up the check and deliver the pages. While making the exchange, Woods said Hutcheson told her she was being arrested for an assault on Hall March 22. Woods, who denied the altercation, had one of her hands handcuffed by Hutcheson and as he attempted to place the cuff on her other hand, she resisted. Hutcheson removed the handcuff when he noticed blood on Woods' wrist. Woods testified Hutcheson then took the check, left the pages and departed.
Hutcheson delivered the check to Hall for endorsement and deposited the check into her account.
Hutcheson was arrested on the charges from the incident April 5 along with 15 charges stemming from the pinging of cell phones. He was released on $75,000 bond and then had his peace officer's license suspended April 6, however Hutcheson remained Mississippi County Sheriff, acting only in an administrative capacity.
On May 5, Tory Sanders, an inmate at the Mississippi County Jail, died after an altercation with law enforcement at the jail. Hutcheson was present during the altercation and Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley asked a judge to strip the embattled sheriff of all power. Judge William Syler granted the request May 10 and Hutcheson was no longer allowed to go into the jail or any law enforcement facility.
Mississippi County Coroner Terry Parker took over the role of sheriff until June 5 when Branden Caid began serving as the acting sheriff of Mississippi County while charges against Hutcheson proceed.
Hawley also asked for Hutcheson's bond to be revoked during a bond hearing June 22. That request was denied the following day.