Suspended Mississippi County sheriff has trial date set for April 2

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Suspended Mississippi County Sheriff Cory Hutcheson waived his arraignment in a court appearance Thursday.

A trial was scheduled for April 2, 2018, and is expected to last five days.

In a hearing on June 27 on a robbery charge, Bonnie Woods, an East Prairie beautician who works for Joyce's Salon, testified that Kasey Hall, a relative of Hutcheson, had worked as a beautician in the same salon.

Hall had planned to open her own salon and was leaving Joyce's Salon. Woods testified that Joyce's Salon owed her some money for wages and that she was holding Hall's check. Woods said that 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 the Salon on March 24 to pick up the check and deliver the pages. While making the exchange, Woods said that Hutcheson told her that she was being arrested for assault on Hall on 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 then removed the handcuff when he noticed blood on Woods' wrist. Woods testified that Hutcheson then took the check, left the pages and departed.

Hutcheson then delivered a check to Hall for endorsement and then deposited the check into her account.

Hutcheson was arrested on April 5 on the robbery charge along with charges of assault and making a false report, both of which were dropped during the June 27 hearing. He was also arrested on 15 charges stemming from the pinging of cellphones in 2014 when Hutcheson was a deputy. In that case, Hutcheson faces seven felony counts of forgery, seven felony counts of tampering with computer data and a misdemeanor charge of misconduct by a notary.

Hutcheson released a statement on his Facebook page Thursday afternoon.

"The court has scheduled a jury trial for April 2. It's obviously not as soon as we'd hoped, but I trust in the process and look forward to getting back to work for the people of Mississippi County," Hutcheson said.

"In the spring, I will pick up where we left off and wage a war on drugs the likes of which this state has never seen before. Until then, I'm grateful for the continued public support & appreciate each of you more than you know."

Hutcheson appeared before Judge Mark Stoll, who was assigned to the case after Judge David Dolan asked the Missouri Supreme Court to be recused in July. Dolan is one of the individuals Hutcheson is accused of tracking illegally by pinging a cell phone.