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Judge files order against dismissal of charges on David Swift
RACHEL TOWNSEND
A retrial of David Swift may be in the future, as the Honorable Judge Mark Hayes has issued an order against the dismissal of the 2024 indictment on Swift. As of Friday, July 12, a motion to appeal the order has not been filed. Judge Hayes did order a dismissal of the 2022 indictment.
During a hearing on Wednesday, July 3, David Swift’s attorney, Daniel Taylor, filed a motion asking the courts to dismiss the 2022 indictment against Swift, as well as the superseding indictment filed in 2024 [https://www.stategazette.com/story/3045724.html].
Judge Hayes’s order was filed with the Dyer County Circuit Court on July 11. According to the order, the courts failed to locate a case “which contains all of the issues presented by the defense”.
The order states that the prosecution was free to “seek an indictment of the defendant for voluntary manslaughter after the expiration of the limitations period if appropriate tolling facts were alleged.”
Furthermore, the order states, “The trial of the defendant or the acquittal of the defendant on the indicted charge or the mistrial, not the lesser-included voluntary manslaughter charge, did not prevent the state from seeking a superseding indictment for reasons of the limitations period alone.”
The order states that Swift will not be able to be tried on charges of 1st or 2nd-degree murder/attempted murder, as he has already been acquitted of those charges. As voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault charges were not ruled on during the mistrial, double jeopardy does not apply.
Since Swift established residency outside of Tennessee during years ranging from 2014-2016, Judge Hayes ordered that the statute of limitations for voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault are still valid.
The next appearance of Swift is set for July 30 at 1 p.m. in Dyer County Circuit Court.