Crime & Safety

Mortimer Pre-Trial Hearing Delayed

The hearing was moved to Sept. 23.

The long delayed trial of Thomas Mortimer, IV, has once again been put on hold.

Mortimer was due in court Wednesday afternoon for an evidentiary hearing, but that hearing has been continued to Sept. 23, according to officials. that Mortimer’s official trial would start on Sept. 13 and a new date has not yet been announced.

Mortimer faces in connection with the quadruple homicide in his family's Winchester home. He is accused of murdering his wife, 41-year-old Laura Stone Mortimer, her two children, 2-year-old Charlotte Mortimer and 4-year-old Thomas Mortimer V, and Laura's mother, 64-year-old Ragna Ellen Stone.

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Authorities allege that the defendant committed the murders after an argument with his wife and ongoing marital discord.

At the evidentiary hearing a court officer must decide whether a crime was committed, whether the crime occurred within the territorial jurisdiction of the court, and whether there is probable cause to believe that the defendant committed the crime.

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