Man pleads not guilty in grandfather's murder
Nov. 9—A man accused of murdering his grandfather plead not guilty to the charges on Wednesday morning.
Kace Deleon Pleasant had been indicted during a special grand jury hearing in the Oct. 26 death of his grandfather, 73-year-old Harold "Tim" Pleasant, at their shared residence at 1217 S. Ninth St., Ironton.
Kace Pleasant was charged with aggravated murder with a firearm specification, saying that "he possessed a firearm or used it to facilitate the crime;" murder with a same firearm specification; fifth-degree felony abuse of corpse; third-degree felony tampering with evidence; third-degree felony failure to comply with the order or signal of a police officer; and fourth-degree felony theft of motor vehicle, specifically the elder Pleasant's Corvette.
He pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
During the arraignment hearing before Lawrence County Common Pleas Court of Judge Christen Finley, Kace Pleasant's court appointed attorney Roger Smith asked for a reduction in the $1 million bond that has kept his client in jail because he couldn't afford the bond.
Lawrence County Prosecutor Brigham Anderson opposed the reduction because of the seriousness of the charges and the fact that Kace Pleasant had no place to go, had fled from the police at over 100 mph and was unlikely to return to court if released.
Finley kept the bond at $1 million.
The next hearing was set for 8 a.m. on Nov. 30.
Anderson said that he would expect a trial to start in January, unless the defense waives the time constraint that a defendant's case has to go to trial within 90 days of the charges being filed.
The case began on Oct. 26 after garbage men were doing their rounds and a man, alleged to be Kace Pleasant, tried to dispose of bags of what looked like bloody clothing. An officer from the Ironton Police Department arrived at the scene and called detectives after confirming that the bags did contain bloody clothing and that the bags and the person trying to discard the items had both come from a red house located at 1217 S. Ninth St.
As officers were trying to do a well-being check on any residents of the house and get a search warrant for the residence, they said a man, later identified as Kace Pleasant, came out of the house, got into a vehicle and left the scene. He was arrested on a charge of fleeing and eluding by the Scioto County Sheriff's Office in Lucasville.
Once the IPD officers got a search warrant for the house and grounds, and they said what appeared to be a dead body wrapped in a rug was found under the back deck of the house.
It was later confirmed to be the body of Harold "Tim" Pleasant.
Anderson has previously confirmed that Harold "Tim" Pleasant was killed by three gunshots to the head.
If anyone has information regarding this case, they can contact the IPD detectives at 740-532-5606.
