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Anderson trial for threatening judge will be in Anderson County

November 09, 2008|TODD KLEFFMAN

HARRODSBURG - When Lee Anderson goes to trial for threatening Judge Darren Peckler, it will take place in Anderson County, probably in February or March.

That was the news from a meeting Friday between Special Judge Thomas P. Jones, Commonwealth's Attorney Richie Bottoms and Anderson's public defender, Travis Thompson.

The exact trial date for the threat case won't be set until after Dec. 9, when Anderson will be resentenced for the 2006 murder and robbery of retired teacher Louise Pulliam.

Anderson pleaded guilty to the murder last year and Peckler sentenced him to life in prison without possibility of parole. But the state Supreme Court vacated that sentence last month, ruling that it was too harsh because Anderson was a juvenile when he was charged with the murder.

At next month's sentencing, Peckler's punishments range from a maximum of life without a parole hearing for 25 years to a minimum of 20 years in prison. Bottoms said he will seek the maximum penalty.

After Peckler sentenced Anderson for the murder, Anderson allegedly told Mercer Jailer Cleo Baker that he would retaliate against the judge if he ever got out of prison.

"Anderson said he would be on the streets again someday and Judge Peckler would pay," Baker said.

Anderson also said, "If Peckler thinks (Pulliam) had it bad, he hasn't seen anything yet. His day will come," Baker said.

Jones, a circuit judge serving Lee, Owsley and Estill counties, was brought in to preside over the threat case because of Peckler's obvious conflict of interest.

Jones granted a defense motion to move the trial out of Mercer County, not only because of the publicity surrounding Pulliam's murder, but because both she and Peckler are well known to many potential jurors.

"The court concludes that with Judge Peckler being the victim in this case and having decades of influence as a circuit and district judge, in combination with the multiple decades that the victim was a school teacher and was involved in so many lives," the best way to ensure a fair trial was to change the venue, Jones wrote.

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