Swift wants manslaughter charge dismissed; cites expiration of statute of limitations

WEAKLEY COUNTY, Tenn. — A man indicted in the death of his wife appeared before a judge on Tuesday for a scheduled bond reduction hearing. However, it ended with him looking to get his charges dismissed.

David Swift entered the Dyer County Courthouse for a bond hearing, but rather than fight for a lower bond, he and his defense team declined it altogether.

“He does not want to ask his family to spend another dime on this case to try and make his bond to make a hardship for them,” Swift’s defense attorney Daniel Taylor said. “He’ll stay in jail and we’re going to fight it with a motion to dismiss.”

The hearing instead focused on a motion by Taylor and his client to have a voluntary manslaughter indictment dismissed.

Taylor argued the indictment, which was filed just a couple of weeks after a Weakley County jury found Swift not guilty of four murder charges in the death of his wife Karen.

“They acquitted him of all the charges, the most serious where the statute of limitations had not expired,” Taylor said. “The ones that were left over, manslaughter, aggravated assault and below, those lesser – at the time the DA (District Attorney) presented the indictment, the statute of limitations had expired before that. It’s four years.”

District Attorney Danny Goodman argued that a new indictment allows the State to prosecute Swift on the voluntary manslaughter charge.

“Mr. Swift left Tennessee about two and a half years after the discovery of the body,” Goodman said. “So, we’re arguing that the statute of limitations stopped at that point.”

Goodman also said that the State is determined to retry Swift.

“Even though we’re down to a lesser charge now, we still feel that we have to seek justice,” Goodman said. “And regardless of the charge, that’s what we’re going to do if we have that opportunity.”

Judge Mark Hayes is expected to rule on July 30 whether or not the charges against Swift will be dismissed or if he will have a new trial.

If Swift is found guilty of voluntary manslaughter he could receive a mandatory life sentence.

He still faces charges in Alabama for stalking his second wife, who he is divorced from.

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