SWEETWATER, Tenn. — UPDATE (3/18/19):
The man charged in the March 1973 murder of John Constant Junior was back in court Monday, March 18.
According to the Monroe County Criminal Court Clerk's Office, Max Calhoun was originally charged under the current Tennessee Code Annotated, not the law that existed at the time the crime was committed.
The court read a superseding indictment to address the need to charge Calhoun under the law that existed in 1973, not the current law. Officials said Calhoun waived arraignment on this indictment.
Calhoun will appear in court on May 3 for a motions hearing.
UPDATE (2/25/19):
A man charged in a decades-old murder entered a not guilty plea in court Monday.
Max Benson Calhoun is charged with first-degree murder.
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office said Calhoun shot and killed John Constant Junior in March of 1973.
His attorney filed a motion for bond and is asking for the case to be dismissed.
Calhoun is due back in court on March 18.
ORIGINAL STORY:
2/12/19
Monroe County authorities said Tuesday a tip helped investigators charge a man accused in a 46-year-old homicide.
John Constant Jr. was shot and killed in mid-March 1973.
A Monroe County grand jury this month indicted Max Benson Calhoun for first-degree murder in his death.
Tenth Judicial District Attorney General Stephen Crump held a news conference Tuesday after he said new evidence uncovered by the Cold Case Task Force Unit led to the arrest. He said Constant was shot multiple times.
Calhoun, who's accused in his death, is a resident of McMinn County, according to Crump. He said he was arrested there before being moved to the Monroe County jail.
Listed as a witness for the prosecution is Calvin Rockholt, lead investigator for the 10th Judicial District, which includes Monroe County.
Crump said there are roughly 60 unsolved homicides the county.
One witness, according to Crump, came forward because they were suffering a terminal illness and did not know if they'd get another chance to share the information they knew.
"I don't ever want a family to think that we forgot that something bad happened to them," Crump said.
The whole arrest is something Calhoun's stepson Terry Brackett says caught him off guard.
"I left work. I was just flying over there, of course, because this just shocked me," Brackett said. "I don't understand this on something that old... with what they have, we're just waiting for some information."
The DA says while the case is getting a lot of attention, his office is focused on getting some closure for everyone involved.
"I don't know if it's the most celebrated in Monroe County... or the most infamous... but it certainly is to the Constant family, and that's the way we're going to approach it," Crump said.