IRWIN COUNTY, Ga. — Ryan Duke, the man accused of killing school teacher and beauty queen Tara Grinstead, is headed back in court in Irwin County on Friday.
The case remained unsolved for more than 10 years until the GBI accused Duke, along with classmate Bo Dukes, with the murder of Grinstead in 2005. Ryan Duke and Bo Dukes are unrelated.
In a taped confession, Dukes described what happened to Grinstead.
A GBI agent presented the video confession of Dukes in court in a March 2019 hearing.
In the recording, Dukes said that at a party in Fitzgerald, Ga., on a Saturday night during the weekend Grinstead went missing in 2005, there was a party at his trailer. Dukes said he drank and passed out. He said that Duke awakened him the following morning.
“I didn’t believe him. He asked me to come down to the pecan orchard and I went with him and we drove to the back and he showed me where the body was,” Dukes said in the video recording. “I freaked out kinda … asked him what the hell happened.”
According to Dukes, Duke had confessed that he broke into Grinstead’s home using a credit card to open the door. Dukes claimed that Duke told him he got into bed with the high school teacher and strangled her to death.
The two of them, according to the taped confession, moved her "unclothed" and "discolored" body to a pecan orchard, where they, together, burned her body over the course of two days.
Before Judge William Reinhardt sets a new trial date, Duke's lawyers are asking the state to pay for investigators to help them prepare for trial. They are arguing that the lack of investigators threatens Duke's right to a fair trial.
The judge has previously ruled that Duke surrendered that right when he hired private defense attorneys instead of using court-appointed public defenders.
Duke's attorneys say they want to appeal that ruling, however, the judge says they cannot do so.
The Georgia Supreme Court upheld Judge Reinhardt's decision in June, saying that Duke cannot appeal the judge's pre-trial ruling unless he agrees to permit them to do so.
In court on Friday, the judge could agree to grant to the funding request or agree to permit the defense team to appeal his ruling. However, the judge could deny both requests and set a new trial date completely.
Dukes has already been sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in the murder.
TARA GRINSTEAD MURDER TRIAL HEADLINES |
