Friday, June 1, 2001
Friday, June 1, 2001 |
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Child molestation suspect remains free on bond despite missing two trial dates while in hospital By JOHN
MUNFORD
A Fayette man who has twice avoided trial on child molestation charges due to being in the hospital will remain on bond, at least for now. Superior Court Judge Christopher Edwards considered revoking the bond of Farrell Lloyd Pitts at a hearing Thursday morning. Edwards said his main concern was insuring that Pitts, 69, appears at his next trial, scheduled for August. Edwards said he declined to revoke Pitts' bond, particularly since the county would have to foot his medical bill if he had another cardiac attack while in jail, which could cost upwards of $100,000. "I'm trying to be fair to the taxpayers, fair to the defendant and fair to everyone else involved," Edwards said. Pitts' attorney, Ed Garland, said Pitts was prepared to fully waive his right to attend the trial, but Edwards said he wanted Garland to make arrangements for Pitts to participate in the trial from a hospital room in the event he is hospitalized again during the August trial date. Garland said he understands it would be easy to set up such a communications system with two computers. If Pitts is hospitalized again and in the opinion of his doctor is unable to communicate to his attorney, the trial would not be held then, Edwards added. The judge also wanted an agreement confining Pitts to travelling just in Fayette, Clayton and Fulton counties so he would not end up hospitalized in, perhaps, another state when the trial date came. Pitts was originally scheduled to go to trial on the charges in October. But he was hospitalized days before the trial with heart trouble and underwent an operation to insert a stint. That resulted in the first postponement of the trial. Again in April, Pitts was scheduled to face trial and was hospitalized days before, forcing a second postponement. He underwent a heart catheterization test at the hospital and was not released until four days after the trial was scheduled to begin. Pitts is accused of child molestation, aggravated sodomy and enticing a child for indecent purposes. The offenses involved a 6-year-old boy back in April 1998, according to the indictment filed against Pitts. Pitts and his wife, June, both testified during the hearing about events leading up to both hospitalizations. Pitts said he wants to get the trial overwith, but at the last hospitalization the doctors told him if he went to court instead of the hospital, he could have died. Pitts said the April hospitalization was brought on after he visited the family physician complaining of chest pains, and the physician told them to call 911 and send Pitts to the hospital if the symptoms occurred again. The couple went home and hours later, Mrs. Pitts called 911 because Mr. Pitts was experiencing chest pain and pain in both arms. Testimony also revealed that Pitts has suffered several heart attacks dating back to 1990.
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