Adam Kincaid, 24, Indianapolis
HANCOCK COUNTY — An Indianapolis man who has been sitting in the county jail awaiting his rape trial since August, 2021 was ordered released from the local jail late Monday.
Magistrate Cody Coombs signed an order to release Adam M. Kincaid, 24, Indianapolis, on his own recognizance in Hancock County Superior Court 1 earlier this week pursuant to Indiana Rules of Criminal Procedure, the order states.
While the order called for Kincaid’s immediate release from the county jail, that doesn’t mean Kincaid will be a free man anytime soon.
In addition to rape and sexual battery charges in the county, Kincaid is also facing rape and criminal confinement charges in Marion County where a warrant was issued there for his arrest in October, 2021. Kincaid has yet to make an initial appearance in that case.
Kincaid, a 2017 New Palestine High School graduate, is also in the local county jail on a violation of probation charge from a December, 2019 case where he had a plea agreement on a Class A misdemeanor charge of driving while intoxicated – endangering a person. That case has a $1,000 cash bond and is set for a hearing in Hancock County Superior Court 2 in June.
Jail Commander Bridget Foy noted Kincaid has a hold on him being released due to the charges pending in Marion County. Officials with the county jail planned to reach out to officials in Indianapolis to let them know Kincaid was available to be transferred there if he posts the cash bond on his misdemeanor case from 2019.
Foy said what normally happens in these types of situations is officials from the facility that placed the hold, in this case Marion County, will come and pick up an inmate after local officials send a “ready to pickup” order. Kincaid was still listed as an inmate in the county jail by print deadline Tuesday afternoon.
Kincaid’s lawyer, Christopher Taylor, filed an objection for him to be released earlier this month after Kincaid noted he did not agree to another continuance in the case. The court ordered the trial slated for Tuesday, April 26 to be pushed back until Tuesday, May 24. Court records state the court, on its own motion due to the unavailability of the elected judge, continued the trial until late May.
The trial has been delayed several times due to council changing; new evidence being admitted earlier this year postponing the trial set for March to April, and now the postponement until May due to unforeseen issues with the unavailability of Judge D.J. Davis, who is on medical leave.
“The judge in this case, Judge Davis, has made many rulings already,” prosecutor Brent Eaton said. “He knows and understands all of his rulings which is the foundation for any trial to be heard and both parities, the state and the defense, will rely on those rulings to proceed.”
The court’s emergency continuance is through no fault of any party, Eaton said, but rather is due to the unavailability of the presiding judge.
“The State believes it is in the interest of justice to have the judge who has heard all of the pre-trial motions and made all of the preliminary rulings preside over the actual jury trial,” Chief Deputy Prosecutor Aimee Herring said. “Unfortunately, when things like this unexpectedly happen, it may complicate things in the short term, but the case is already back on the trial docket.”
Herring noted it is the state’s duty and responsibility, just as much as it is defense counsel’s, to ensure that the defendant has a fair trial and that his rights are protected.
“All parties are looking forward to bringing this case to a resolution, but we must do so with the defendant’s rights at the forefront of our procedures,” Herring said.
Taylor noted he advised Kincaid he had a right to be released from jail on the rape charges locally after being held for six months or more without a trial, and that was the route Kincaid wanted to take. There is a chance at a lower bond in the charges against Kincaid in Marion County. Kincaid’s bond locally on the rape charges here was set at $50,000 before the release was order was issued.
“We just advised him what the possibilities are in Marion County, and he wants to try to go that route,” Taylor said while maintaining his client’s innocence.
