UPDATE: Death penalty case in Carter County set for trial in July 2020

For the second time in two years, a Carter County judge has set a date for a death penalty case.

Chad Benfield is scheduled to be tried before a jury beginning July 27, 2020 following a motion hearing in Criminal Court in Elizabethton. The state and defense have been hammering out details for the proceedings for months including a private attorney being hired for Benfield. He is accused in the brutal beating murder of his neighbor, 89-year-old Mary Nolen in July 2017.