A court hearing regarding whether or not the District Attorney must recuse themselves in a double murder case will continue later this month due to one of the key witnesses being unable to appear in court on Thursday.

Criminal Court Judge Stacy Street presided over the motion hearing on Thursday in the state’s case against Eric Azotea, 45, of the Pinecrest community, who stands accused of two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of abuse of a corpse, and one count of tampering with or fabricating evidence.

The motion hearing was held regarding two motions filed by Azotea’s attorneys Gene Scott and Dan Smith. One of the motions seeks to suppress statements given by Azotea to investigators while the other motion seeks to disqualify the District Attorney’s Office from prosecuting the case because “members of the office are necessary witnesses in the case.”

As part of both motions, the defense states that during questioning by investigators Azotea invoked his constitutional right to counsel. After Azotea had invoked his right, the motion states that investigators communicated his request to the District Attorney’s Office which then attempted to secure counsel for the defendant and also advised investigators how to proceed after Azotea asked for an attorney.

In the motion to suppress Azotea’s statements, his attorneys state that investigators continued to speak with and question Azotea even after he asked for an attorney. In the state’s response to the motion to suppress, the state said Azotea initiated the continued discussions and later rescinded his request for an attorney and asked to negotiate a deal to get immunity from prosecution for his girlfriend in exchange for providing a statement.

As part of Thursday’s hearing, Street directed the prosecuting and defense attorneys to play a portion of the recordings of the interview in questions. He instructed the attorneys to limit the video to only those portions relevant to the issue of Azotea requesting an attorney and then rescinding that request and asking to negotiate a deal.

“I don’t want to poison a jury pool with everything that may be on those tapes,” Street said.

The portions of video selected by the attorneys were played into the court record, and then Azotea’s attorneys called witnesses to the stand to question them regarding the interview and Azotea asking for a lawyer.

The witnesses taking the stand on Thursday included Assistant District Attorney Dennis Brooks, ADA Janet Hardin, Public Defender Jeff Kelly, Assistant Public Defender David Crichton, and Carter County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Investigator Mike Little. Tennessee Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Brian Fraley, who was involved in the interview with Azotea, was unavailable for Thursday’s hearing and will testify when the hearing picks back up on June 21.

The witnesses testified regarding their involvement either in the interview with Azotea or with his request for an attorney.

Scott asked the court to continue the motion hearing until Fraley could appear to testify and Street agreed. The motion hearing will resume on June 21 at 1:30 p.m. and Street is expected to rule on the motion that day. If the motion to disqualify the District Attorney’s Office is denied, Street said he would also rule on the motion to suppress Azotea’s statement on June 21. However, if the motion to disqualify the District Attorney’s Office is granted, a ruling on the motion to suppress will be put off until after a new prosecutor is appointed in the case.