A trial date of April 3, 2017, for former Luther Band Teacher Kyle Whitmus was set Wednesday morning in Oklahoma County District Court.
Whitmus, 34, has been in jail since February after his arrest on one count of first-degree rape and other sexual related charged against a former sixth-grade student.
He was not brought to Judge Glenn E. Jones’ courtroom today as his attorney and the prosecutor scheduled dates and procedures going forward.
Outside the courtroom, attorney Sam Talley said his client did not get to make the trip from the jail to the seventh floor of the courthouse because he didn’t “make the cut” of transporting jail inmates for the day. They take over 100 inmates at a time.
It was a bustling day at the courthouse.
Whitmus faces nine counts, the most serious is the first degree rape charge. He also faces seven counts of “indecent or lewd acts with a child under age sixteen,” and one count of soliciting sexual content with a minor. The rape allegedly happened in an office adjacent to the band room at the school, and was described in detail by the victim during a previous court hearing.
Talley said he expects to file several pre-trial motions including trying to get the number of criminal counts reduced. He continues to work on another bond reduction hearing for Whitmus. A similar hearing was denied over the summer with the judge siding with the prosecution’s claim he posed a risk to the community. Talley argued that Whitmus had a job set up in another part of the state away from Luther and had family support.
The parties are expected to meet for a pre-trial conference in January and more motions and filings are in process.
Whitmus has pled not guilty to the charges.
