For the fifth time since charges were filed in 2022, a jury trial has been canceled for an Excelsior Springs woman accused of sexual abuse.

Desiree A. Alexander, 39, faces three counts of attempted first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sexual abuse, one count of first-degree sodomy, one count of incest and one misdemeanor count of first-degree sexual misconduct. The Ray County Prosecutor’s Office recently dropped two felony counts of abuse or neglect of a child, leaving eight charges pending.

The four-day jury trial had been scheduled to begin Sept. 14 before 43rd Judicial Circuit Court Judge J. Bartley Spear Jr. Prosecutors filed amended information Aug. 20, dropping the two felony charges, and Alexander objected to the state being allowed to file it.

At an Aug. 21 pretrial conference, Spear overruled Alexander’s objection and allowed the amended information to be filed. Alexander then requested a preliminary hearing under the amended information, which Spear denied.

A week later,…