Homicide

SHOCK PROBATION HEARING TODAY Homicide defendant Richard Parsons' shock probation hearing takes place at 9:30 a.m. today. Coverage by Fred Petke. We will update this story in today's paper or on our Web site as we get more information. LOCKS OF LOVE DONATION A 4-year-old donates her hair to the Locks of Love program for children who have lost their hair because of a medical diagnosis. Photos by James Mann. GARDEN CLASS SATURDAY The Clark County Public Library will host two garden classes on Saturday.

What initially was a case of suspected child abuse has now become a homicide investigation. On July 26 Jessica Noble brought her 4-year old son, Nathaniel Knox, to Fort Logan Hospital and told doctors that when she had returned from shopping she found the boy unresponsive. Noble said that Knox had fallen on the stairs of her Rice Lane home in Stanford and struck the back of his head when he tried to follow her. The hospital summoned law enforcement because they suspected child abuse when the boy appeared unresponsive, bruised and with what appeared to be adult bite marks on his body.

After an hour-long hearing in District Court, the judge couldn't justify the murder charge against an alleged drug dealer. Instead, she reduced the charge to reckless homicide and sent the case to the grand jury. Harold Wayne Salyers, 52, of 1815 Old Ruckerville Road, was arrested earlier this month after police received the toxicology results for Wade Dickerson, who died from a drug overdose Aug. 8. During Salyers' preliminary hearing Wednesday afternoon, Winchester Police Sgt. Tom Beall said Salyers admitted to selling Dickerson the drugs prior to his death.

Two men were indicted for murder Thursday afternoon in connection with a pair of unrelated Clark County homicides, one from a home invasion and the other after a dispute over guns. Aaron Lewis, 29 of Lexington, was charged with murder, first-degree burglary and first-degree persistent felony offender after he allegedly killed 28-year-old Philip Howard in his home on Redwing Drive May 23. Officers were called to the scene shortly after 1 a.m. after neighbors reported hearing gunshots and saw a Dodge Magnum speeding away from the home.

LIBERTY - Derrick S. Hamilton, 24, of Liberty was acquitted Monday on a reckless homicide charge stemming from a traffic accident in August 2005 that caused the death of a 14-year-old girl. Vanessa Camerly died Aug. 24 of arm, leg and head injuries four days after the crash on Ky. 837. She and a friend were attempting to cross the road on their bicycles when she apparently ran into Hamilton's vehicle. Her bike was dragged 20 feet after the collision. Hamilton's trial ended after the commonwealth presented its case, said Casey Davis, chief deputy circuit clerk.

A Lincoln County jury deliberated only 25 minutes before finding Carol Foley of Crab Orchard guilty of manslaughter and fetal homicide Tuesday. Foley wrecked her mother's pickup on Hwy 643 about two miles south of Crab Orchard on Nov. 22 of last year, killing her passenger Brandy Ison Simpson and Simpson's unborn child. Toxicology reports showed that Foley's blood alcohol level was 0.10 two hours after the accident, above the state's legal limit of 0.08. The jury, consisting of eight women and four men, recommended that Foley receive eight years in prison for the manslaughter charge and 10 years for the fetal homicide charge, to be served consecutively.

Murder charges against an alleged drug dealer were reduced to reckless homicide this afternoon after the judge ruled there wasn't enough evidence. After an hour-long preliminary hearing in Clark District Court, 52-year-old Harold Salyers returned to jail facing a much lighter charge. Police were pursuing a wanton murder charge against Salyers, who admitted selling two grams of heroin to Wade Dickerson, Winchester Police Sgt. Tom Beall testified. Dickerson died Aug. 8 in a Lexington hospital.

A Winchester mother is facing five years in prison for killing her 16-day-old son nearly two and a half years ago. Amanda Tolson, 24, of 348 Hill St., pleaded guilty Thursday morning in Clark Circuit Court to a single count of reckless homicide. The plea followed a criminal mediation session in July. Her co-defendant and the child's father, 25-year-old Christopher Chandler of Georgetown, also pleaded guilty but to the reduced charge of hindering prosecution. The pair were arrested in February 2010, nearly a year after their son Lucas Chandler died in the University of Kentucky Medical Center of multiple blunt force trauma injuries to his head, including a skull fracture.

A Danville man was arrested late Monday for allegedly shooting two people to death and leaving another seriously injured in what police say appears to be a drug-related crime. Police Chief Tony Gray said officers arrested Thomas Wayne Hager Jr., 39, about 11 p.m. at his residence in the Village Apartments on McClure Drive off Stanford Road. Hager is charged with killing Mark Snyder, 21, of Waynesburg, and Ted Sparks, 54, of 477 High St. in Danville, the address where the shootings took place.