MEMPHIS, Tenn. — After being found not guilty of murdering his wife, David Swift’s attorneys now want the court to dismiss a new voluntary manslaughter indictment, saying the statute of limitations has expired.
David Swift was indicted June 20, 2024, in Karen Swift’s death. David Swift was in a Dyer County court Tuesday, July 2 for a bond reduction hearing, but his attorneys asked the court to dismiss the case, arguing the statute of limitations expired prior to a 2022 indictment on voluntary manslaughter and aggravated assault charges.
A jury in Weakley County, Tennessee, found David Swift not guilty of the murder of Karen Swift on June 6, 2024. The jury told the judge they unanimously found him not guilty of first and second-degree murder and not guilty of attempted first and second-degree murder. He won't be retried on those charges.
However, the jury told the judge they were hopelessly deadlocked and could not agree on a charge of voluntary manslaughter. A mistrial was declared on that charge.
"We presented an indictment request to the grand jury today for Voluntary Manslaughter,” said the D.A. in a statement announcing the new indictment. “We did so to include language that would toll the Statute of Limitations allowing us the ability to retry David Swift on the remaining charges for which there was a hung jury in the previous trial."
There is no statute of limitations for first and second-degree murder under Tennessee law, but voluntary manslaughter is a Class B felony and carries a statute of limitations of eight years.
If convicted of voluntary manslaughter, David Swift faces a mandatory life sentence.
Karen Swift, a mother with four children, was reported missing on Oct. 30, 2011, three weeks after she had filed for divorce from her husband. Hunters found her body near a Dyersburg cemetery on Dec. 10, 2011, six weeks after she was reported missing and nine weeks after she had filed for divorce.
Prosecutors said David Swift was the last person to see his wife alive when she returned home from a Halloween party.
David Swift was originally indicted for murder in August 2022, more than a decade after his wife was killed. Following the indictment more than 11 years after her death, he was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, where he had living after being remarried.
Prosecutors during the murder trial claimed David Swift was the only one with motive. However, defense attorneys cited a lack of evidence in the case, saying he knew nothing before learning Karen was missing.
Judge Mark Hayes granted a change of venue request for the original murder trial. It was held in Weakley County, about 50 miles northeast of Dyer.