By MELINDA J. OVERSTREET
for Glasgow News 1
Three defendants in two unrelated murder cases appeared in Barren Circuit Court for pretrial conferences Monday.
Cheryl Leighanne Bennett and her mother, Donna Cheryl Logsdon, are each charged with murder in relation to the death of Michael “Mickey” O. Logsdon, their father and husband, respectively.
According to their indictments, on or about July 9, 2022, they turned off the BiPap machine that Mickey Logsdon needed to breathe.
The parties had agreed since the last pretrial conference in late July to meet with a mediator to see whether a plea agreement could be reached. Glasgow News 1 has learned that mediation session occurred Friday.
Two assistant state attorneys general had been assigned as prosecutors on the case and had been working with it, as local Commonwealth’s Attorney John Gardner recused himself due to a potential conflict of interest. On Monday, however, it was revealed in court that the Office of the Attorney General has now apparently recused, and a new special prosecutor, Kori Beck Bumgarner, has been assigned. Bumgarner is the commonwealth’s attorney for Warren and Edmonson counties; she attended the pretrial conference via the streaming service Zoom.
Circuit Judge John T. Alexander asked the attorneys, with Johnny Bell and Martin Peterson on the defense side, what they wanted to ask of him to do.
“If it please the court, sir, we have spoken even after the mediation that we had last week,” Bell said. “I believe we’ve decided to continue to try to negotiate.”
He said there were some things Bumgarner had asked him about that he needed to get with her to try to answer, and he had also filed a “bill of particulars” – a request for specific items of evidence or information – and she told him that because she had just gotten into the case, she wanted some more time to answer that, with which he had no problem whatsoever.
“That’s fair,” Alexander said.
Bell continued that he believed they’d agreed to just set another pretrial conference and continue talking and finishing up a few more procedural things.
Peterson asked about another procedural matter that was resolved after a few moments of discussion with the judge.
Alexander asked Bumgarner whether the things discussed sounded accurate to her.
“Yes, sir,” she said, adding that when she and Bell spoke Friday, she told him that when she got into the case she had just accepted about a week prior to that, she saw that there was a pending bill of particulars but she asked for more time to comply. She was OK with setting another pretrial date.
Alexander acknowledged that she was new to the case and said it was certainly understandable for her to need some additional time to familiarize herself with it.
“I do appreciate the fact that you wanted to try to honor that previous mediation agreement and I know it didn’t necessarily produce any tangible fruit, but, you know, certainly, I’m not saying no at this point to anything. It’s possible that there might be something later, but I appreciate you trying to jump in there and kind of run with it,” the judge said.
A new pretrial conference was set for 1 p.m. Nov. 6, and he said that if they needed any additional hearing regarding the bill of particulars to let him know and they could get that scheduled.
Bennett also still has charges pending from earlier 2022 that include first-degree possession of methamphetamine, third or more offense, and public intoxication on a controlled substance, excluding alcohol.
Campbell
James Edward Campbell is accused of fatally shooting Roger L. Noland, 35, of Scottsville on Feb. 10 following an alleged confrontation in the parking lot outside Campbell’s residence in Glasgow.
In addition to his murder charge, Campbell is facing two counts of first-degree wanton endangerment due to the allegation that two other people were in Noland’s vicinity when the shots were fired. Noland was transported after the incident to T.J. Samson Community Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Bell, who is also Campbell’s defense attorney, had previously filed a motion for the case to be dismissed, and that was the main point of discussion at July’s proceeding, when it was determined that the matter would be addressed via written arguments to be submitted by the end of August to Judge John T. Alexander’s consideration.
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Resa Gardner, at Monday’s court appearance, noted that they have received Alexander’s order denying the motion for dismissal, and they have provided all the discovery – evidence – to Bell. She said there was quite a bit – phone records, Facebook messages, etc. – for him to go through.
“We are still maybe trying to negotiate the case. Mr. Bell would like to talk to me about that,” she said, suggesting they set a new pretrial for Nov. 6. “I think by that time, we would know whether there’s going to be any kind of potential resolution or if we’re just going to have to go ahead and set it for trial.”
Alexander asked Bell whether he agreed to that, and he did.
Gardner said she thought they had turned over everything they were supposed to to Bell, but if there was anything else, she asked that he let her know by then.
“As far as I know, there’s nothing else,” Bell said.
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