Defense, prosecution working on bond hearing for defendant in UM officer’s death
Published 7:56 pm Friday, November 3, 2006
Prosecutors and defense attorneys are still working on the date for a bond hearing for a University of Mississippi student charged with killing a campus police officer.
Defense attorney Steve Farese said the bond hearing is important because prosecutors will have to release some details of their case against Daniel Cummings, 20, of Germantown, Tenn.
“They have to fire at least one barrel of the gun to have enough (evidence) to hold him,” Farese said of his interpretation of the prosecution’s requirements.
District Attorney Ben Creekmore said Wednesday that prosecutors will oppose bond for Cummings, who is charged with capital murder in the case.
“He’s not entitled to bond based on what he’s charged with,” said Creekmore, who declined to discuss the case further.
Ole Miss police officer Robert Langley was answering a speeding complaint along Fraternity Row on Oct. 21.
Authorities said he stopped Cummings’ truck a short time later just off the Oxford campus.
The affidavit against Cummings, a second-year student at Ole Miss, states the Germantown resident drove away while Langley was trying to stop him, dragging the officer until he was thrown to the pavement, striking his head.
There has been no word on toxicology results on Cummings. Investigators have said they don’t plan to issue any test results of investigative findings to avoid jeopardizing the case.
Farese continues to contend that Langley’s death, while unfortunate, is not a capital murder case.