MARION COUNTY — A 30-year-old Centralia man was returned to Taylorville Correctional Center Thursday after Judge Marc Kelly denied a motion to continue his April jury trial in Marion County court.

TJ Howard appeared in court Thursday in custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections. He was scheduled for a pre-trial hearing on separate outstanding felony cases from 2013, 2014, 2015 and three from 2016, as well as outstanding DUI cases from 2011, 2012, and two from 2013.

A defense motion Thursday seeking to have an April 17 jury trial date on the cases continued was denied, and the matter remains set for an April 6 final pre-trial hearing on all cases.

Howard made headlines over the summer after he posted $25,000 cash bond on his seventh outstanding felony case in Marion County bringing his total bond posted that year to $58,000.

An alleged failure of a court-ordered drug test ultimately put him back in the Marion County Jail with bail increased by $1 million.

He has remained in custody since that time and is currently serving a two-year prison sentence on one of those cases.

After less than 10 minutes of deliberation, a Marion County jury found him guilty in July on a 2012 case charging him with damaging a Centralia Police car. At that time a charge of felony aggravated battery in a public place was dismissed.