Tad Cummins Trial: Former Teacher Requests New Trial Date for Elizabeth Thomas Case
Tad Cummins, the former teacher accused of kidnapping a Maury County teenager has requested for a new trial date. He will now be tried in Nashville on Jan. 2, 2018.
The trial was originally set to begin on Tuesday, July 25. However, attorneys for the 50-year-old former Tennessee teacher requested that the trial date be pushed back to allow time for more research, plea discussions and discovery.
Cummins waived any rights he had under the Speedy Trial Act and the Plan for Prompt Disposition of Criminal Cases in a waiver filed on Thursday, July 6. The U.S. District Judge said that any plea agreement must be consummated before the trial.
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Cummins pleaded not guilty to federal kidnapping charges regarding his abduction of student Elizabeth Thomas. Cummins is accused of kidnapping the 15-year-old and taking her across the United States for over a month after they went missing on March 13.
The case gained nationwide attention after the state issued an Amber Alert for the teen and they became the subject of a nationwide search by law enforcement. According to Metro.co.uk, Thomas was reportedly in love with Cummins and was having sexual relations with him prior to fleeing the state which she has described as the "time of her life."
The two were missing for more than a month until an anonymous tipster called in their location. Cummins and Thomas were later found living in a log cabin in a remote area of California, 2,500 miles away from where they disappeared.
The Thomas family lawyer, Jason Whatley, has claimed that the suggestion that Elizabeth willingly went with Cummins is highly impossible. Whatley argued that she was groomed and manipulated into going with the teacher, something that she would not do under normal circumstances.
If convicted, Tad Cummins faces up to 10 years in federal prison.
