Published: November 05, 2009 09:51 pm      

New trial date in child abuse case

A late January trial date is scheduled for a man accused of force-feeding feces to a 4-year-old child.

Craig Freeling Shearer, 30, of Goodloe Chapel Road, will now go to trial beginning Jan. 25, 2010, on a charge of first-degree criminal abuse for the incident.

Shearer and his attorney, Jim Baechtold, appeared in court Thursday morning before Madison Circuit Judge William G. Clouse to set the new trial date.

A trial had been scheduled for late September, but was postponed.

Shearer is accused of beating the child, a boy, and force-feeding him feces between March 1 and April 10, 2009.

Because of a prior felony conviction, Shearer also faces a persistent felony offender charge that would bring a prison sentence of 10 to 20 years if convicted at the January trial.

The trial is expected to last three days, attorneys told Clouse during the hearing. Several doctors are expected to testify during the trial about the boy’s injuries and other medical issues stemming from the case.



Church burglar pleads

A man who twice broke into a Richmond church entered guilty pleas to a pair of third-degree burglary charges.

Harold E. Gilbert, 42, of Richmond, was indicted in September for allegedly breaking into the First Baptist Church, on the Eastern Bypass, twice during July.

Nothing was stolen in either burglary, and surveillance video from the church shows Gilbert breaking windows to enter the building in both break-ins, said Rodney Richardson, a Richmond Police Department detective, during a preliminary hearing in August.

Gilbert also was seen on video testing office doors inside the church to see if they were locked, Richardson testified.

As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors recommended a five-year sentence on each charge.

Final sentencing in the case is scheduled for Jan. 21, 2010.



Brian Smith may be reached at bsmith@richmondregister.com or at 624-6694.