Sunday, Jul. 05, 2009

Trial date stands for convicted rapist charged in murder of SWIC student

BELLEVILLE -- A convicted rapist will go on trial in August for the 2006 slaying of a Southwestern Illinois College student, whose body was found in her apartment near campus.

Emmett S. "Bags" Lindsey, 29, appeared in court last week and was told his trial date will stand. Lindsey had asked for a delay to obtain another lawyer, but after 10 days, no other lawyer was hired.

St. Clair County Circuit Judge Milton Wharton told Lindsay's current lawyer, Alex Wilson, to be prepared for the Aug. 17 trial date.

Amy Bracht, 18, was found Nov. 29 slumped over her bathtub. She had been strangled. Lindsey became a suspect after police interviewed more than 40 people familiar with the case.

Lindsey was convicted of rape in Maryland when he was 15 years old.

Baltimore police arrested Lindsey in the March 2002 rapes of two women, ages 18 and 19, after they had responded to an adult telephone chat-line ad in a weekly newspaper. One was raped at gunpoint; the other was assaulted after she was picked up from her home, according to news reports.

On July 10, 2003, a prosecutors dismissed five other felonies, including the rape charges, after Lindsey agreed to plead guilty to assault. He was sentenced to time served while awaiting trial, plus eight years, but the sentence was suspended, according to the Baltimore City Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

After Bracht was slain, police arrested Lindsey in her murder at his mother's home on Lebanon Road in Belleville. He is being held in the St. Clair County Jail pending trial.