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High Court Rules Against Accused Murder Lincoln Pickett

Last updated on Monday, October 31, 2016

(BEDFORD) - The Indiana Supreme Court ruled against releasing Lincoln Pickett from jail after his attorneys requested the high court to overrule Judge Michael Robbins’ decision to keep him detained.

Pickett, 34, is charged with the murder of Kami Ratcliff. Police believe Pickett shot and killed Ratcliff, then burned her body and lied to police about what happened at his home at 3414 U.S. 50 West. Pickett is charged with murder, obstruction of justice, abuse of a corpse, two counts of false informing and failure to report a dead body. His then wife Jasmine Pickett is also charged with aiding, inducing or causing abuse of a corpse, obstruction of justice, false informing and failure to report a dead body. She has filed for divorce and both appeared in court on Wednesday.

Lincoln Pickett's trial is set for September 11, 2017. Jasmine Pickett will appear in court for a pretrial hearing on November 14 at 1 p.m.

Pickett is being held in the Lawrence County Jail without bail. His public defenders - David Shircliff, Jennifer Schlegelmilch and James Spangler - believe Pickett should have been released August 4, after being jailed for 183 days.

On July 26, Robbins scheduled the trial to start October 3. Then, prosecutor Michelle Woodward filed to start the trial on September 8.

But because six months passed as of August 3, Shircliff says Pickett's right to a speedy trial are being violated according to Indiana Criminal Rule 4(A). Under Indiana law, if a person has been in jail for six months, or 182.5 days, without having a trial, they can be released from custody.

Lawrence Superior Court Judge Michael Robbins disagreed and denied the attorneys' motion to release Pickett.

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