SPRINGFIELD - Effingham County Superior Court Judge F. Gates Peed declared a mistrial Friday in a kidnapping and aggravated assault case involving an 18-year-old woman.
Ryan Daniel Herrington, 31, of Guyton was on trial for the April 2009 incident in which he was charged with eight felonies, including possession of a weapon (knife) during the commission of a crime, kidnapping, three counts of aggravated assault and possession of methamphetamine.
Herrington is not contesting the meth possession charge and is pleading not guilty to the others.
Peed granted defense attorney Tom Withers' motion for a mistrial after a statement on the stand made by a sheriff's investigator regarding the officer's knowledge of the defendant from another investigation.
When objecting to the officer's statement, Withers told the judge it placed the defendant's character in question and could not be cured with jury instructions to disregard.
"You can't un-ring the bell," Withers said.
"There's a chance of re-ringing the bell if you try to cure," Peed said.
Peed noted the seriousness of the charges caused "caution."
"It's granted and with exercise of great caution and understanding the seriousness of the charges," Peed said. "It's regretful, and I don't think it was intentional on the state's part. These things happen."
Peed noted attempts would be made to retry the case as soon as August.
A jury has been called for Aug. 16, but that case, Peed said, looks like it's going "by the wayside."
The jury selection in the double-murder trial of Craig Heidt had tentatively been set for that day with the trial set to begin Aug. 17. Heidt's defense attorney, Dow Bonds, filed a motion this week to postpone because of a scheduling conflict he had in a federal case.
The Herrington trial was postponed earlier this month because of the illness of an attorney involved in the case.