Arraignment

An assault suspect charged with beating another man with a tool last week made his first court appearance Monday. Robert Campbell, 43, of 420 S. Main St., was arrested in the early morning hours Friday and charged with first-degree assault. On Monday, a judge entered an automatic not guilty plea and scheduled a preliminary hearing for Nov. 24. The victim, Ray Eldridge, drove himself to the Winchester Police Department shortly after the assault happened early Friday morning with wounds to his head and torso, Winchester Police Capt.

The Salvisa man charged after the boat he was piloting July 2 collided with a jet ski on Herrington Lake had his arraignment continued today in Boyle District Court. Sammy Jason Hackler, 39, of 475 Goodlett Road is to appear in court Aug. 10. He is charged with second-degree assault, driving under the influence of intoxicants, and three counts of wanton endangerment. The driver of the jet ski, Alex Otte, 13, of Danville, suffered severe leg injuries in the accident. She is no longer a patient at the University of Kentucky hospital.

Danville school board members Julie Erwin and Lonnie Harp have pleaded not guilty to charges they violated election law by soliciting help from school employees in their campaigns to be elected to the Danville school board. A pre-trial conference for both is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Dec. 15 in Boyle District Court.

Arraignment for Danville school board members Julie Erwin and Lonnie Harp has been continued until Nov. 17 in Boyle District Court. An associate with Erwin and Harp's lawyers said the continuance was agreed upon by both sides. The attorney general's office filed criminal complaints against Erwin and Harp on Sept. 18, alleging they violated election law by soliciting help from school employees in their campaigns to be elected to the Danville school board. Erwin and Harp admit they sent a campaign e-mail, which is the basis of the complaints, to a list-serve that 20 teachers were subscribed to. The e-mail announced their candidacy and asked for support in their campaigns.

Should a Jackson pastor be released on bond, he couldn't have a cell phone or a computer, according to a judge's ruling Monday morning. John Edward Smith, 44, of Jackson, pleaded not guilty Monday morning to charges that he used electronic communications to entice a 13-year-old female to meet him in Winchester for sex. Clark District Judge Brandy Oliver Brown amended Smith's bond from $5,000 cash to a $5,000 third party surety bond....

LANCASTER - A Garrard County farmer pleaded not guilty Monday to an allegation he tried to buy sex with cash and painkillers. Greg Combs, 45, of 4918 Fall Lick Road, was not represented by an attorney in Garrard District Court but asked prosecutors for the evidence they have against him, including audio tapes of the alleged transaction between him and an unidentified police informant. Judge Janet Booth set Combs' next court appearance for May 14. Combs was arrested March 23 at the East LA Shell Express on Richmond Street after he allegedly told a woman in the store he would pay her $100 to spend the night with him, said Garrard Deputy Sheriff Keith Addison.

The couple charged with tying a 76-year-old man to his recliner for more than a day pleaded not guilty to their criminal abuse charges Monday. Jeffrey and Mary Bull, both 41 of 159 Mimosa Drive, were arrested last Wednesday, a day after deputy sheriffs found her father tied to a recliner with straps. The Bulls were the caretakers for 76-year-old James E. Carson, Mary Bull's father, who was diagnosed with dementia. Since the Bulls are charged with first-degree criminal abuse, a felony offense, the judge automatically entered a not guilty plea in Clark District Court Monday morning.

The other suspect in a string of car and home burglaries entered his not guilty plea earlier this week. Travis Fulz, 19 of 111 Magnolia St., is facing three counts of third-degree burglary and theft by unlawful taking following a string of burglaries between Jan. 6 and Jan. 7 along and around Boone Avenue in Winchester. An automatic not guilty plea was entered Tuesday in Clark District Court during his arraignment hearing. Because the charges are felonies, a prelimnary hearing was scheduled for Feb. 4 to determine whether there is probable cause to support the charges.

STANFORD - The last two suspects in the 2002 shooting deaths of Bo Upton and Ryan Shangraw were arraigned Friday in Lincoln Circuit Court, bringing the total number charged in the case to five. Neccolus L. Mundy, 26, and Charles E. Smith, 26, both of Richmond, pleaded not guilty to two counts each of murder, attempted murder, first-degree robbery and first-degree burglary. Commonwealth's Attorney Eddy Montgomery said he will seek the death penalty for both men. Mundy and Smith join three other Richmond men - Jamarkos Campbell, Deonte Simmons and Matthew Tolson - charged in the deaths of Shangraw and Upton, who were gunned down inside Shangraw's trailer near Hubble in February 2002.

One by one, the 10 business owners accused of making gambling payments faced their first court appearance after being charged nearly two weeks ago. Some waived their appearance through their attorneys, but not-guilty pleas were entered automatically for the felony charges of promoting gambling. Preliminary hearings, which will determine whether there is probable cause for the charges, were scheduled for Oct. 29. Only one defendant, Fairview Market owner Edna Campbell, said she did not have an attorney and did not plan to hire one. A couple of others did not have attorneys Tuesday morning, but did not say they were not going to hire one. Kentucky State Police had been investigating complaints of illegal gambling for about a month prior to executing search warrants on Sept.