Judge Rejects Guilty Plea

{Charleston, West Virginia}…Wednesday, Charles March was wheeled into Kanawha County Circuit Judge Duke Bloom's courtroom, where he attempted to plead guilty to fatally strangling, dismembering and burying Kathy Goble of Charleston, who had worked with him at Kelley's Mens Shop in Charleston. Goble disappeared in 2010, but her remains weren't found until April 2012 in a shallow grave in the yard at March's home in Chesapeake. Judge Bloom rejected his guilty plea because not all the forensic evidence for the case is back from the Smithsonian Institute and the autopsy report is incomplete.

March's trial was scheduled to begin on December 10th, but Judge Bloom moved the trail to December 26th, at which time he told March he could then enter a plea, if he chooses to do so.

In the last seven months, there have been delays that have kept the case from going to trial including a jailhouse suicide attempt in August and a court-ordered psychological evaluation.