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Dates set in St. Louis murder case
Terence Edward Dade will have to wait until December to find out if a taped confession he made can be used as evidence against him during his trial.
Dade, 26, was charged May 1 in the April 30 slaying of 21-year-old Jajuan D. Johnson on a dark, wooded trail off of Snake Hill Road in St. Louis.
During a hearing Oct. 7, Judge James Chamblin heard testimony regarding Dade's confession. Chamblin now has until Dec. 2 to listen to and watch the recorded and taped interviews conducted with Dade early May 1 and shortly before his arraignment May 2.
On Dec. 2 at 9 a.m., Chamblin will rule on whether the tapes can be admitted into evidence during the five-day trial scheduled to begin Feb. 9
During testimony Monday, Loudoun County Sheriff's Office Investigator John Halley said he read Dade his Miranda Rights before questioning him about Johnson. Dade had not been arrested yet when questioning began but signed off on waiving his rights.
Dade's attorney, Jennifer Wexton, is arguing that her client's rights were not read to him again while he was being arrested. Halley said he reinformed Dade of his rights several times throughout the interviews.
During a preliminary hearing in June, a videotaped confession from Dade was played in court.
In it, Dade said that between 9 and 10 p.m. April 30, Dade called Johnson and asked him to meet him “on the path” to “smoke a blunt,” something the two did often, Dade said.
This time, Dade said, he took along a 22-caliber rifle and a baseball bat to “fight him.”
When Dade asked Johnson about a sexual encounter he had with Dade's girlfriend, Johnson “chuckled” and denied it, even though he had admitted to it several weeks before.
Dade went on to describe how he shot Johnson “straight on” in the torso.
When asked if he then hit Johnson with the rifle, Dade replied, “I think I hit him with a baseball bat.”
An autopsy revealed that Johnson was shot once in the abdomen, twice in the chest and 11 times in the head. He also suffered blunt force trauma to the head and torso.
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