By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COLUMBUS - The suspected Columbus highway shooter was a no-show Monday at his first scheduled court appearance in Franklin County Municipal CourtIn a last-minute decision, Charles McCoy Jr., 28, did not appear in court at the request of his two attorneys. They said there was no reason for him to appear after the two-minute hearing.

McCoy was brought to the courthouse from the jail and was planning to appear in court, Franklin County Sheriff Jim Karnes said afterward. But Judge Ted Barrows waived his appearance and, because McCoy's attorneys did not ask for bond, he will remain in the Franklin County Jail.

A judge set his preliminary hearing for March 30 on one charge connected to the 24 highway shootings since May.

McCoy is charged with one count of felonious assault in connection with a Dec. 15 shooting into an occupied Columbus house. No one was hurt.

The 1994 Grove City High School graduate is suspected in the other 23 shootings. Authorities have forensic evidence linking at least one handgun McCoy's father turned over to Columbus police with nine of the 24 highway shootings, including the one that killed Gail Knisley, 62, of Washington Court House, Ohio.

Knisley died when a bullet pierced the car she was riding in.

Prosecutors have 10 days to present the case to a grand jury. Chief Deputy Steve Martin of the Franklin County Sheriff's Office, who heads an 11-agency law enforcement task force investigating the shooting, said he expects a grand jury to get the case next week.

The task force received 5,735 tips since it was formed in November after Knisley's death, he said.

"We are taking an entire package to the grand jury," Martin said in a brief interview before McCoy's hearing. "Hopefully it will be multiple indictments."

Martin declined further comment on the pending charges, including whether McCoy would be charged with murder in connection with Knisley's death.

McCoy - who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, according to two of his relatives - is being held in a single cell on the medical floor at the jail for his own protection, said Mike Barrett, Franklin County Corrections Center chief deputy.

He can watch television through a window in his cell and make collect telephone calls.

Since arriving on an FBI jet Saturday evening from Las Vegas, where he was apprehended last week, McCoy met at least twice with his attorneys. He also spoke by phone with relatives.

After Monday's hearing, one of McCoy's attorneys, Andrew Haney of Columbus, hinted that details of McCoy's mental state would be coming soon. He declined further comment but he and McCoy's other attorney, Mark Collins, also of Columbus, praised the way sheriff's officials are caring for McCoy in jail.

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E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com