While all parties were present, a Columbus man accused of raping and murdering his great-aunt was still not prepared to change his not guilty plea on Monday.
It was the third time that a change of plea hearing was scheduled and postponed for Bobby N. Truitt II, 20, who had been staying at various locations when he was arrested.
Accused of sexually assaulting and killing Sharon Lovins, 64 on Sept. 27, 2020 at her home in Waynesville, Truitt is formally charged with murder and rape, both Level 1 felonies, and auto theft as a Level 6 felony.
Moments after Bartholomew Superior Court 1 Judge James Worton called the hearing to order, public defender Benjamin Loheide said no plea agreement had been prepared at this time to present to the court.
Loheide asked that the matter be postponed until a pre-trial conference is held on July 19 at 11 a.m.
The question of where Truitt would be held while local hearings are taking place was brought up this week.
Administrators at the Bartholomew County Jail expressed concerns last October because a relative of both the victim and defendant was also booked in the local jail, which caused concern regarding Truitt’s safety. He was first ordered to be held by the Indiana Department of Correction before being transferred to the Brown County Jail in Nashville late last winter.
On Monday, chief deputy prosecutor Greg Long said that the relative was no longer in local custody, and requested that Truitt be transferred back to the Bartholomew County Jail. Worton took the request under consideration.
On Sept. 27, Lovins was raped and killed one day after she bailed Truitt out of the Johnson County Jail, where he had been charged with sexual battery, and offered to let him stay with her temporarily, court documents state.
In a probable cause affidavit, investigators said they believe that after Lovins was killed, Truitt stole her 1995 Ford Explorer and drove it to Indianapolis, where he was reportedly seen inquiring about buying a bus ticket to New York.
Two days after Lovins was killed, Truitt was arrested after being found on the street among a group of panhandling homeless individuals, according to the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department.
During questioning, Truitt admitted that he hit Lovins in the face with a hammer, and then sexually assaulted her before choking her, according to court documents filed by Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Detective Lt. Chad Swank.
