Craw in legal limbo as murder trial remains on calendar

JACKSBORO, TN- (WLAF)- Lindsay Craw’s (above) first degree murder trial is slated to begin next month. However, she is lacking a lawyer to represent her.

Last week, Craw saw the second attorney she hired to represent her withdraw from her case. Both attorneys cited non- payment of fees for their reasons to leave the case.
Craw is accused of stabbing Billy Partin, Jr., her boyfriend, in 2018. The two were living together in a LaFollette apartment at the time, according to police records. Partin died from his injuries later the night he was stabbed.
Shortly after her arrest, Craw retained Tom Tabor to represent her. During his time on the case, he filed a motion for a change of venue naming “undue excitement” created by the media about the case. Because of media interest, Tabor said the jury pool in Campbell County was “tainted” meaning it was “unlikely” Craw would receive a fair trial in the county, the March 2019 motion said. The request to move the trial was denied. In Sept. 2019, Tabor filed a motion asking to withdraw from Craw’s case.
Within the motion Tabor said he and Craw were unable to agree about how to handle her case. “The client insists on taking actions the lawyer finds repugnant or imprudent,” Tabor wrote. He also mentioned a non- payment of fees. Court records indicate Tabor and Craw agreed to a $50,000 fee for his services. She only paid him a $5,000 down payment in the months he was working for her.
The next day, a motion was filed noting that Charles Deas was now Craw’s attorney.
Earlier this month, he asked to withdraw from the case. The agreed fee for Deas’ services was $23,000, according to court filings. While Deas didn’t require a down payment, he and Craw allegedly agreed to a $200 a week payment. At the time of the February filing, Craw had only paid $300 since Sept. 2019.
To continue to devote time and resources without payment can’t be done, Deas said in the motion. It would amount to “ineffective assistance of counsel,” the motion to withdraw said.
The motion was granted.
Craw’s case is now in legal limbo while she is jailed. She is on the trial calendar but lacks a lawyer to defend her.
In 2018, Craw was arrested following Partin’s death. She initially told police an intruder stabbed Partin and assaulted her. Two days after Craw told police that story, they searched the home where she was staying and found a red handled large knife under her bed believed to be the one used in Partin’s stabbing. That is when she was arrested and charged in Partin’s death, police records said.
Shortly after her arrest, Craw underwent a competency evaluation. Mental health experts deemed her competent to stand trial. They also noted that at the time of her actions she wasn’t suffering from a “severe mental disease or defect,” as defined by state law. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED -02/17/2020- 6AM)