April 11--ACCOMAC -- Tonya S. Bundick will be tried in Virginia Beach for her remaining arson charges, but a judge on Thursday did not decide whether to grant her request for 62 separate trials.
At a hearing Thursday in Accomack County Circuit Court, Bundick's attorneys asked that individual trials be held for each alleged offense, according to court documents.
Judge Glen A. Tyler postponed a decision until he can review prior testimony in the case, local media outlets were reporting.
At her January trial in Virginia Beach on two of the counts against her, Bundick entered an Alford plea to charges of arson and conspiracy in connection with an April 2013 fire in Melfa. With that plea, she did not admit to the charges but acknowledged there was sufficient evidence to convict her.
Bundick, 40, and fiance Charles R. Smith III, 39, were arrested a year ago when their minivan was stopped near a fire in Melfa.
In court testimony and in an hours-long taped confession with police, Smith said he and Bundick committed the five-month arson spree together. He pleaded guilty in October to 67 counts of arson and one count of conspiracy. He has yet to be sentenced.
Bundick has denied any knowledge of or involvement in the fires.
Also Thursday, the judge granted a request that Bundick be allowed to wash and groom her hair before trial and wear makeup. Her attorneys made the request so Bundick can "present herself to the jury in her best posture," according to court documents.
Margaret Matray, 757-222-5150, [email protected]
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