CHATTANOOGA — Defense attorney Neal Pinkston challenged the admissibility of evidence collected on December 4, 2023, during a pre-trial hearing for Lawrence Goodine Jr. in Chattanooga. Goodine faces charges of first-degree murder, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated burglary, tampering with evidence, and violation of a no contact order.

The trial is scheduled to begin on August 17, 2026, in the courtroom of Criminal Court Judge Barry Steelman. Pinkston requested that the evidence gathered on December 4, 2023, be thrown out of the case.

Pinkston stated that the victim's house was not searched until five days after the body was discovered. Kara Akins' body was found on November 29, 2023, and investigators did not arrive at the residence until December 4, 2023.

Detective Alvin Abbett testified that he did not go to the scene at the time the body was discovered. Abbett stated that investigator Daryl Slaughter was present when the body was found and that there were enough officers to secure the scene without crime scene tape.

Abbett acknowledged that the house had been turned back over to the owner and a cleaning service had come in before the autopsy report. He also stated that cameras inside the home were not operable at the time.

A search of the house at 2630 Carr St. was carried out after the medical examiner's office ruled that Akins died of strangulation. Pinkston also requested that the judge not allow the playing of a Ring video from a neighbor's house prior to the woman's death.

A Ring video shows Goodine with his arm around Akins' neck dragging her toward the house she was leasing. Akins was 48 years old at the time of her death and was the mother of seven children.

There was a no contact order against both Goodine and Akins prohibiting them from going around each other. Both individuals were previously charged with domestic assault, but those charges were eventually dropped.

The Tennessee grand jury issued an indictment against Goodine on seven charges based on evidence that included surveillance footage. The defense has also sought to sever aggravated burglary and evidence tampering charges from the other counts, seeking separate proceedings for those specific allegations.