ATLANTA — Editor's Note: The video in this story is from previous coverage of Duke's appeal in 2019.
Ryan Duke, the man charged with murder in the 2005 death of Tara Grinstead, will be back in front of the Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday.
According to a Supreme Court of Georgia oral argument schedule and summary, Duke will be again appealing an Irwin County’s court denial of his request for state funds to pay for expert witnesses and an investigator.
It is not the first time Duke has tried to appeal this issue to the state’s highest court.
The first time they heard this issue was back in May 2019 when Duke’s lawyers appealed a similar pre-trial ruling made by Judge Bill Reinhardt.
It took a month for the Georgia Supreme Court to come back with a ruling that denied his appeal.
They said they didn’t have the jurisdiction to act on the case without a trial judge’s signature, so it effectively sent the case back to Reinhardt.
In Sept. 2019, both prosecutors and the defense agreed to send the case back to the Georgia Supreme Court.
In Jan. 2020, Reinhardt again ruled the state should not pay for private investigators and experts to help Ryan Duke prepare for his trial which effectively cleared the path for another appeal.
To read the case summary, click here.
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