The jury trial of a man accused in the August 1st death of Greene County jail inmate is set to begin in the second week of January.
28 year old Cody Crum is scheduled to appear in Greene County court for alleged drug induced homicide. As previously reported, Michael Burrus was 34 years old at the time of his death, and was found unresponsive in his Greene County jail cell at around 8 p.m. on August 1st. As a matter of public record, Crum made an open statement in court that led to him being arrested and put into the Greene County Jail earlier that same afternoon.
According to Greene County court documents, on May 1st this year an arrest warrant was issued for Crum regarding his apparent possession of a controlled substance. Crum was arrested on May 2nd for possession of reported drug paraphernalia and was in court May 3rd.
Crum posted two thousand dollars bond on May 4th. He was next set to appear on the 9th of May but was in the hospital. When the matter was continued to May 21st, Crum was in court and waived his right to a preliminary hearing. His next court date was pushed back after originally being scheduled for June 20th. Tom Piper, Crum’s appointed public defender at the time, filed a motion to continue and the matter was set for a status hearing on August 1st.
According to publicly released Greene County court information, Crum appeared at his scheduled time on August 1st. Records from the court show that Crum was asked to willingly submit to a drug test. In response, Crum openly admitted his drug use to the court. With the admission of guilt in front of an open court, Crum was found in direct criminal contempt and sentenced to 14 days in county jail. That evening, Michael Burrus was found unresponsive.
Craig Grummel is Crum’s current defense attorney, after Tom Piper’s appointment was dismissed on August 6th. Matt Goetten will represent the prosecution. Crum is set for a pre-trial conference on January 4th at 11:30 a.m, and the jury trial begins on January 7th at 9 a.m.