The State requested more time in the Natasha Fults case. 

Fults appeared in Circuit Court on Wednesday morning for plea or trial selection. She is charged with two counts of tampering with evidence. She is accused of tampering with Japeth Gilley’s body and the contents of his pockets. Gilley is the 19-year-old father who died after being shot in 2021. Fults was indicted on June 2, 2023 and arrested on June 8, 2023. 

Fults appeared in court in November for plea or trial selection and it was reset for January. On Wednesday, District Attorney Chris Stanford requested it be reset again for February.

“The State will not be making an offer in this matter, however we need more time to determine if the defendant may enter a plea or go to a jury trial on this matter. We would like to reset this to Feb. 28. That will be an absolute deadline to set this for trial or open plea,” said Stanford. 

The Gilley case has been ongoing for nearly three years. Gilley was reportedly shot in the head on Feb. 2, 2021 and, at time of printing, no one has been charged with causing Gilley’s death. Fults has been the only one charged in relation to this case. Gilley was inside a vehicle the night of Feb. 2 which pulled into the emergency room at Ascension Saint Thomas River Park Hospital. Hospital staff helped get him inside and the vehicle drove away. He had a gunshot wound to the head and was transported to Vanderbilt Medical University where he later succumbed to his injury.

Fults will appear in court again on Feb. 28. She is being represented by the public defender’s office.