Devyn Keith seeks delay in bench trial currently set for Wednesday
Huntsville City Councilman Devyn Keith will go to trial next month instead of Wednesday on his shoplifting charges.
A judge set the bench trial for June 28 after some tech issues his lawyers were experiencing with video evidence.
Keith’s attorney says he was not able to watch video evidence provided by prosecutors with his client.
Court documents say software issues would not allow the video on the thumb drive and CD to play on newer computers with Windows 11. However, Keith’s attorney says he was able to access those videos on an older computer.
Now while the attorney was able to see the video, he was not able to watch it with his client Devyn Keith, which is why he asked the judge for a delay.
"The human capacity for innovation is endless, so the number of things you can come up with to delay a trial is probably as many excuses as there are people in the world. I can't tell you what might happen in the future, but I know this has not been a problem before," Tim Douthit, chief trial attorney at the Madison County District Attorney's Office, said.
Douthit says Keith's attorneys have had access to this evidence for months, but the issues haven't been voiced until recently.
He says they uploaded that video evidence on their system back on February 16. On the 24th, Douthit says Keith's attorney downloaded the evidence.
"For 2 months, nothing happened. We didn't hear anything. We assumed everything was kosher," Douthit said.
However, the DA received a letter from Keith's attorney on April 24 saying there was some confusion as to which video went with which charge.
Douthit said by the next day clearer evidence was made available, but that wasn't picked up until last week.
"We have promptly responded with here's what you need. He's been able to access it as he needs it. I cannot speak as to what problems he may be having on his end," Douthit said.
Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é was able to speak briefly with Keith's attorney over the phone. He said different jurisdictions use different software, and sometime he just “can’t keep up with the technology.â€
However, he knows what the issue is now, and the doesn't expect any other problems when seeing that evidence with his client.
The Madison County District Attorney's Office does have resources available for any attorney who is facing issues with accessing evidence.
"It's 2023. Evidence comes in a lot of different forms. A lot of it is digital. We have not had an issue with people accessing it before. Sometimes you may have to dig around your computer for a little bit, but we got two different IT guys on call. Usually, if people have a problem getting to it, they call us, we get them another copy, we'll fix their computer and it's good to go," Dothit said.
