Updated: May 20th, 2026
Date: Thursday, June 4th, 2026
Time: 8:30 AM CST
Location: Safety Building (Courthouse), Room 506, 821 W State St, Milwaukee, WI 53233
Event: Motion Hearing
Judge: Hon. David Swanson
💜 In honor of Tomitka — whose favorite color was purple, and to recognize all victims of domestic violence — we kindly ask supporters to wear something purple when attending.
At a status conference held on February 27, 2026, the court addressed scheduling updates since the defendant has been appointed a new lawyer. If I’m not mistaken, this is his 3rd lawyer since the case began.
The defendant was not present in court as he remained in custody, and the court formally waived his appearance. His defense was represented by attorney Scott Anderson, who appeared and confirmed his new role on the case.
During the hearing, the defense requested that the final pretrial and jury trial dates be rescheduled. The prosecution did not object to the request, and the court approved the changes.
The court also set deadlines for motions moving forward. All substantive motions, excluding motions in limine, must be filed within 60 days. Motions in limine are required to be submitted at least 48 hours prior to the final pretrial hearing.
The case will remain assigned to Branch 11.
The newly scheduled dates are as follows:
As you may have noticed, updates have been less frequent lately. That’s largely because the pursuit of justice for Tomitka has faced multiple delays entirely outside of our control. The most recent hearings and status conferences have been largely administrative, with little substantive progress to report.
On December 11, 2025, a motion hearing was held. During that hearing, the defense attorney informed the court that he was leaving his position with the Milwaukee District Attorney’s Office and could no longer represent the defendant. As a result, the court needed to appoint new defense counsel. No other matters of major significance were addressed at that time.
On January 21, 2026, a status conference took place primarily to formally note that the court had appointed a new defense attorney for the defendant. Again, no substantive arguments or developments occurred during this hearing.
As we continue to follow the legal proceedings surrounding the murder of Tomitka, we have some important updates to share.
The motion hearing scheduled for October 31st was originally intended to address two critical requests from Jerrod’s lawyer:
These motions are significant. If granted, they could potentially remove key information the prosecution intends to use to present the full truth at trial.
On October 22nd, Stewart’s defense filed new motions requesting:
These filings ultimately seek to push the proceedings — and the path to closure — further down the calendar.
The presiding judge has now agreed to:
1) Reschedule the October 31st motion hearing to a later date (to be announced), and
2) Move the trial date to a future date after the rescheduled motion hearing is resolved.
Both new dates will be announced in court on October 31st, 2025.
It is likely this proceeding will be brief, possibly lasting only a few minutes.
Despite the limited scope of the October 31st appearance, we are urging all supporters who are able to attend. There may be no dramatic arguments or testimonies that day — but your physical presence shows the court that the community is watching, we’re still waiting for closure, and it reiterates that Tomitka had loved ones that care.
Once the newly scheduled motion hearing takes place, the court will determine whether Stewart’s prior statements may be used, and whether GPS evidence is lawful and admissible at trial. It will ultimately determine how and when the trial should proceed.
Every postponement is another day without closure. We cannot control the legal (stall tactics?) strategies at play — but we can control whether we show up.
The continuous delays aren’t all bad news. Assuming everything goes as we expect if things go to trial, our patience now can potentially limit some appeal options for Jerrod in the future. If the judge didn’t reschedule the motion hearing or the trial, the defense could later argue they’re entitled to a new trial due to X,Y, and Z.
(We fully expect X, Y, and Z to still exist as an argument for future appeals, but the current delays limit what those options can be.)
Disclaimer: The content on this site reflects the personal opinions and perspectives of the family and supporters of Tomitka Stewart. All summaries of hearings, motions, or testimony are paraphrased and should NOT be taken as verbatim transcripts. Unless otherwise cited from official public records (such as court filings or published news reports), statements here are opinion only and not statements of fact, legal findings, or conclusions. Nothing on this site should be interpreted as legal advice or official court documentation.
Andrew here, again.
In the last post, I shared a lot of information without much background. If you want the full details, you can scroll down and read that post. But here’s some context that might help.
The motion hearing that began on January 31st, 2025 happened because the State filed two important motions.
First, they asked the court to combine all of the cases into one, so there would be a single trial rather than multiple separate ones.
Second, they filed something called a forfeiture by wrongdoing motion. In simple terms, this motion asks the judge to allow Tomitka’s prior statements to be used at trial, since she can no longer testify. According to my communication with our Victim Advocate at the Milwaukee District Attorney’s office (and again, this is just my personal understanding of the correspondence—I’m not a lawyer), the State argued that Mr. Stewart’s actions are the reason Tomitka is not alive to testify. Because of that, the State argued Mr. Stewart gave up his right to confront her in court.
Naturally, the defense pushed back against allowing Tomitka’s statements into evidence. On the motion to join the cases, the defense also raised concerns that combining them could affect Mr. Stewart’s rights to testify—arguing that he may want to testify in one case but not the other.
Once again, this is based on my no-formal-legal-education background and my interpretation and opinion of what I think happened previously.
I hope this gives everyone a clearer picture of what the last post was about and why these motions mattered.
Andrew here.
Elizabeth and others may chime in a bit later.
This photo was already shared all over the news last year, so I think it’s only fair to share it here too, but this time, with the proper context –
It’s been about 544 days since my sister, Tomitka Stewart (“My Meka”), was murdered, and around 506 days since a criminal complaint was filed against Jerrod Steward, the man who “allegedly” killed her.
Here’s the original criminal affidavit that was filed. Just hover your mouse and scroll over it if you’d like to read the whole thing –
As of early June 2024, the defense had not contacted the District Attorney’s office to discuss a resolution [to discuss a plea deal]. We were told the DA’s office would reach out to us if that happens. To the best of my knowledge, that has not happened.
So, here we are….544 days later.
For a long time, my other sister, Elizabeth, myself, and others have held back from saying too much publicly—out of fear of jeopardizing the trial. But there’s a lot that hasn’t been said. And there’s a lot already on legal record, revealed in court motions, including, in my opinion, a notable audio recording of a phone call the defendant allegedly made to children while he was in custody.
The ongoing court motions will ultimately decide what jurors will see and hear if the case goes to trial [as expected].
Just so it’s clear: unless I specifically say otherwise, everything you read here is my opinion, not fact. If you get tired of seeing the words “allegedly,” “in my opinion,” or “paraphrasing” over and over… trust me, I’m just as tired of typing them.
It’s not possible to go over every single motion that’s been filed, but the motion hearing on January 31st was particularly enlightening for myself.
In January 2024, Jerrod Stewart was arrested and charged with multiple crimes connected to alleged abuse of my sister, Tomitka.
This is significant because it happened before Tomitka was murdered, with no legal resolution. Her passing doesn’t erase the allegations, and the judicial process takes it into consideration as the case moves through the system.
During the motion hearing on January 31st, 2025, an officer testified and was cross examined by the defense regarding her interview with Tomitka a few days after Jerrod Stewart was arrested in January of 2024. The officer testified that Tomitka’s daughter called 911 during the incident which led Mr. Stewart’s arrest. Some of the most notable substance of her testimony, in my opinion, PARAPHRASED, was as follows:
According to the Milwaukee County Circuit Court website, on approximately February 12th, 2024, Tomitka was granted a 10 year protection order against Jerrod Stewart –
Before the court granted the 10-year injunction, Tomitka filed a petition for a temporary protection order. The same petition that WISN Channel 12 shared publicly was read in court, where the State had the officer read it aloud during the January 31st, 2025 motion hearing –
During the same January 31st, 2025 motion hearing, an investigator with the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office, assigned to the Witness Security Unit, also testified. He explained that he became involved in the case in November 2024 after receiving a referral from the District Attorney’s office, and that he was asked to review potential prior contacts between Mr. Stewart and Tomitka, beginning around January 28th, 2024, when Mr. Stewart was in custody.
The investigator testified that Mr. Stewart allegedly made multiple phone calls while incarcerated, which the investigator characterized as attempts at intimidation and persuasion.
During the January 31, 2025 motion hearing, a detective from the Milwaukee Police Department’s Homicide Unit also testified, outlining his involvement in the investigation.
I’ll continue updating the box at the top of this website so the most recent info is always front and center. The newest posts on this site will also always be at the top (under the box). Elizabeth’s channel is at the bottom; she has plans for it. Just remember, what I share here is my personal interpretation of events and summaries.
Since this case entered the courts, Mr. Stewart’s lawyer has filed motion after motion. So far, Judge Swanson has consistently ruled in ways that—at least from my perspective—have been fair, just, and favorable for Tomitka and our pursuit for justice. But the defense keeps pushing. At the end of August, they filed two more motions: one to suppress the defendant’s own earlier statements, and another to suppress evidence (possibly GPS-related—whether from Tomitka’s car or the defendant’s GPS monitoring device, I’m not sure. We’ll learn more on October 31st).
I suspect that one of the upcoming motions involves GPS because it was noted on Milwaukee’s Circuit Court Access site –
The Victim Advocate from the DA’s office has informed us that these motions are relatively normal in this type of cases.
💔 What crushes me most about the motion hearings is repeatedly watching an empty courtroom. Attending Tomitka’s funeral gave us a measure of closure, but now what we need is people willing to stand with and for us in the courtroom. These motion hearings and the trial aren’t just legal steps; they’re the fight for HER justice.
I can’t fly to Milwaukee every time the defense attorney files a new motion. And neither can a lot of our family. Most of Tomitka’s family lives in Tennesse. We stay connected through a Milwaukee DA’s Victim Advocate and, at a minimum, attend the motions via Zoom, but in-person presence matters.
If you’re in Milwaukee, please try to show up.
Show up for Tomitka.
Show up for her children.
Show up for every victim of domestic violence who doesn’t have a voice.
Your presence speaks louder than words for HER. It tells the judge, the defense, and the world: she is not forgotten, and she is not alone.
In my opinion, the defense’s main tactic is delay. More motions, more stalling. But justice delayed should not become justice denied.
So if you don’t have trick-or-treaters this Halloween—or even if you do—consider standing in that courtroom for Tomitka. Fill the benches that would otherwise sit empty.
Together, let’s make sure Meka’s voice is heard!
