PICKENS – During the latest twist in the sentencing phase of confessed murder Jerry Buck Inman, the judge denied a defense request for a mistrial and stopped proceedings until Wednesday morning.

Circuit Judge Ned Miller also ruled against the defense motion accusing the prosecution of misconduct.

Miller gave Greenville attorney Jim Bannister until morning to speak with a Georgia sociologist who originally planned to testify as a social historian on behalf of the defense.

Bannister, who asked for a continuance to prepare another historian, has the option to put his original choice, Dr. Marti Loring, on the stand, according to Miller. But the judge was firm in his ruling that the hearing would proceed.

“We’ll break for you to talk to Dr. Loring,” Miller said. “She was prepared in September, and she’s prepared today.”

Inman previously pleaded guilty to the May 2006 murder and rape of 20-year-old Tiffany Souers, a Clemson University engineering student who was found in her off-campus apartment strangled to death with her bathing suit top.

But his sentencing was postponed in September amidst controversy over 13th Circuit Solicitor Bob Ariails treatment of Loring on the stand.

Miller again said Tuesday that Ariail’s line of questioning to the sociologist was inappropriate but since he would decide Inman’s fate instead of a jury, he did not rule for a mistrial.

The judge also said Bannister “did not connect the dots” to prove deliberate prosecutorial misconduct.

During the September hearing, Ariail asked Loring if she knew it was illegal to practice social work in South Carolina without a state license.

He later offered Loring immunity, but she refused to continue her testimony, prompting Miller to delay the sentencing while the defense found another witness.

When the hearing resumed Monday, Loring told the court she would do the best she could if asked to testify but said she was not as prepared as usual and did not have her normal level of composure.

Miller barred the solicitor from cross examining the social worker, who also testified Monday about events last week leading up to her return to court.

However, he ruled there were no grounds to recuse Arial from the case.

Loring testified that orders for her to appear at a procedural hearing on April 16 were left on the ground outside the front door of her Atlanta home, but that she did not receive that notification on time since she did not return until that evening.

A warrant for her arrest was also issued after she did not appear in court, according to testimony.

She appeared in court Monday voluntarily and said she would be willing to testify.

However, Bannister said it would not be in his client’s best interest to allow her to do so in light of previous events, which he called intimidation.

After Loring’s testimony, Bannister called to the stand John Mauldin, an attorney who testified he also questioned the solicitor’s conduct during another death penalty sentencing.

Desa Ballard, an attorney who specializes in legal ethics, also took the stand as an expert witness for the defense.

She testified that Ariail’s line of questioning to Loring in September, was in her opinion, in violation of the American Bar Association’s code of ethics.

Monday, Bannister asked the judge to delay the hearing again while he gathered witnesses from the Atlanta incident involving Loring.

He said he wanted to determine if Ariail’s office was involved in what he called further intimidation of the witness.

However, the judge refused to delay the proceedings for that reason and said what happened in Georgia may need to be addressed at another time.

“I’m not going to suspend the proceedings,” he said. “I don’t think what happened in Georgia bears on this case.”

Both Monday and Tuesday, Bannister asked for a continuance while the defense further prepared to mitigate the case.

However, Miller denied those requests.

“This case has been dragging on, and it’s going to come to a conclusion,” Miller said.

He also said that as a fact finder in the case, he wants to hear Loring’s testimony and is prepared to call her as a witness himself.

Since Inman pleaded guilty to Souers’ murder, Miller, instead of a jury, must decide if the Tennessee native gets the death penalty or life in prison.

“I am interested in hearing everything from all parties that may bear on my decision,” he said.

Court will resume at 10 a.m. Wednesday morning.