Former Covington teacher accused of raping student appears in court
COVINGTON, Tenn. (WMC) - A former Covington teacher indicted on more than 20 counts of sex-related charges was in court Monday.
Monday afternoon’s hearing had nothing to do with the facts or the sex allegations against 39-year-old Alissa McCommon.
Instead, one of her defense attorneys said the hearing was only to discuss McCommon’s finances and if she could afford to continue funding the case.
While chained and shackled, McCommon took the stand to talk to the judge about her finances.
She said she has ownership and equity in a retirement account from the Tipton County School Board but doesn’t know how much is in there.
One of her defense attorneys, Jason Ballinger, asked the judge to consider declaring McCommon “indigent,” meaning she can’t adequately fund her defense.
The state requested that the court examine her expenses and phone calls, also mentioning that McCommon’s house is up for sale, and after it sells, it could give her the funds for a fair defense.
“I have a guesstimate that after they take away their fees from popping it early, maybe it’s around $10,000? But I honestly don’t know. I know that I’ve tried to call one time and it’s kind of hard to call from the jail phone because they won’t accept phone calls from the jail. And I also called from Crest One when I was recently there, and it said to leave a message for them to call you back, but I don’t have a callback number, so I can’t get access to it,” said McCommon.
The judge said that in order for her to be declared indigent, he would need to know how much money she has in her account, and if it’s less than 10,000 dollars.
The judge requested a financial statement be handed over before her next court date on July 2.
McCommon’s attorney would not comment about whether she has given birth to her victim’s baby, but in court Monday, she did appear slimmer than her last appearance back in March.
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