State’s misstep triggers mistrial

Posted on August 31, 2018

BY CAITLYN BURCHETT / Contributing writer

“So, there is no way to prove you did not do it, correct?” Assistant State Attorney John Weed asked defendant Cordell Washington as he testified on his own behalf for the 2015 murder of fellow inmate Steven Benson.

It was this simple question that brought an abrupt halt to the court proceedings as Judge Greg Parker declared a mistrial because the question evidently violated Washington’s right to a fair trial — delaying the three-year-old murder case another four months.

PHOTO: When former TCI inmate Cordell Washington took the stand Thursday morning, he testified that he had renounced his membership in the gang known as “The Bloods.”

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