New witnesses found, trial date set for Jan. 3

The fate of SIU men’s basketball players Stetson Hairston and Mike Dale will have to wait a few more months.

The felony trial for the two players, which was supposed to begin today, was pushed back to 10 a.m. on Jan. 3, when Judge Kimberly Dahlen granted the defense a continuance.

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According to court documents, the defense requested the delay after receiving a supplemental discovery list on Oct. 26 disclosing six new witnesses. Dahlen granted it late Thursday, citing the defense’s request to interview and rebut the new witnesses. The prosecution did not object.

The trial will now go well into the basketball season and will not start until the Salukis have played 13 regular season games. Mike Dale’s three-game suspension will be over, but Hairston’s status is still up in the air.

He was suspended indefinitely after the incident, and head coach Chris Lowery has not indicated when it will end.

The prosecution now has a total of 12 witnesses to the defense’s five.

When the trial does resume, the prosecution will call the original plaintiffs, John Cooper and Daniel Sledd, three members of the Carbondale police department and various other witnesses from Carbondale and Metropolis, which is Cooper’s hometown.

The defense thus far intends to call men’s basketball players Jamal Foster and Randall Falker, former player Ryan Walker and Saluki athletes Elizabeth McGowan and Katie Louis.

Hairston and Dale are charged with criminal trespass to a residence, mob action and battery. The two have already pled not guilty to entering Cooper’s residence by force and striking Cooper and Sledd.

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The defense is rebutting the charges by asserting they entered Cooper’s residence with permission, did not commit mob action and did not commit battery because they acted in self-defense or in defense of another.

If convicted, Hairston and Dale face up to seven years in prison.