Court must try to find jury in Sullivan Co. for Boswell trial, judge rules

SULLIVAN COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Megan Boswell appeared in Sullivan County court Thursday afternoon.

News Channel 11 streamed the court appearance live on WJHL.com. The full court appearance can be watched in the video player above.

During the hearing, Judge James “Jim” Goodwin addressed a pending motion for a change in venire, which would bring in a jury from another county. Throughout Boswell’s court proceedings, her attorneys have asked for either a change in venue or venire in order to find an impartial jury. Boswell’s attorneys have claimed the attention the case has garnered makes finding an unbiased jury too difficult.

The state has argued against that claim , with prosecutors pointing to surveys they believe indicate an impartial jury can be found in Sullivan County.

Goodwin told both parties on Thursday that before a change in venire is considered, an attempt must be made to find an impartial jury in Sullivan County first.

“I think that the process that we’re required to do is we have to attempt to pick a jury in Sullivan County before we make a ruling on whether or not we go to another county,” Goodwin said.

Goodwin hopes to have a Sullivan County jury selected in December.

If an impartial jury cannot be found in Sullivan County, Goodwin said the court will have to find another similar-sized county and attempt to pull a jury from there.

Goodwin set the next court date for Nov. 1, 2024.

Boswell’s attorney, Gene Scott, told News Channel 11 that it matters little to him where the jury comes from, so long as they are impartial to the case.

“I want a fair jury. I don’t care if we pick it here, if we pick it in Memphis or Knoxville,” Scott said. “I don’t care where we pick it. I want a fair jury. I want a fair jury that’s going to listen to the facts and not be influenced on what they’ve heard in the news media and the things they read on Facebook. That’s all we want is a jury that will come into it with an open mind.”

Scott noted that another difficulty in jury selection is finding jurors who can be sequestered for the duration of the trial. He expects Boswell’s trail to last roughly three weeks to a month.

Goodwin hopes to have the jury selected by mid-December. Deputy District Attorney William Harper said Thursday that prosecutors expect they will be able to tell quickly if an impartial jury can be found once a panel of potential jurors is screened.

“We’ll have a pretty good idea once we get started whether or not it’s going to be fruitful for us to try to select a jury here in Sullivan County,” Harper said.

Like Scott, Harper hopes to find a fair jury and said the district attorney’s office has worked to be able to select local jurors that meet that standard.

“We have deliberately not released a lot of information to you guys, to the general public, and the goal was to hopefully be able to pick a jury here in Sullivan County,” Harper said.

Boswell faces multiple charges in connection to the death of her toddler, Evelyn Boswell, who was found dead in Blountville in March 2020 after an AMBER Alert and weeks of extensive search efforts.

Boswell was indicted in August 2020 on 19 charges , including two counts of felony murder.

In June 2024, Boswell was served with a new indictment that charged her with first-degree murder in Evelyn’s death, more than four years after her initial arrest. The charge alleges the killing of Evelyn was premeditated and intentional.

Despite the number and severity of the charges against Boswell, Scott expects a positive outcome for her in the trial.

“Once this case is tried, we’ll prove her innocence,” Scott said. “I have no doubt that that girl is innocent.”

Michael Templeton is a retired Drug Enforcement Administration agent who has worked as an investigator with Scott on Boswell’s case. Templeton has been working with Scott for roughly a year and a half and warned against going into the trial with preconceived notions.

“There’s only a handful of people who’s seen the evidence in this case, maybe six, no more than 12 and that’s on both sides,” Templeton said. “Nobody out there, if you’re trying to form an opinion, you haven’t seen any of the case, but we have.”

Echoing Scott’s concerns of bias against Boswell, Templeton believes she can beat the charges against her.

“It’s our belief that at the end of the day, she’s going to be found not guilty because there’s evidence that’s just been misinterpreted by both the DA and the TBI which we think will help exonerate Ms. Boswell.”

Templeton told News Channel 11 that ultimately, the indictments against Boswell amount to nothing without a conviction.

“Anybody can be indicted, including a former president of the United States,” he said. “It doesn’t mean anything. What happens inside the court is what means something.”

Boswell has remained in custody since her first arrest in February 2020 for making alleged false reports.

Multiple factors have contributed to the delay in starting Boswell’s trial. In October 2022, her public-appointed defense attorney, Brad Sproles, filed a motion to withdraw from the case , citing a deteriorated relationship that wouldn’t allow him to properly defend her. Scott was then appointed as Boswell’s new legal counsel.

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