Jury Trial

A jury trial has been scheduled for January for a Wilmore woman facing multiple sex-crime charges, including third-degree rape. The trial for Ashley B. Bender, 30, of 705 Corbitt Drive in Wilmore will begin Jan. 10 at 8:30 a.m. in Jessamine Circuit Court. Bender was first arrested June 26 and indicted by a grand jury July 29 on 12 charges - five counts of third-degree rape; two counts of third-degree sodomy; three counts of unlawful transaction with a minor, where it is alleged that Bender provided controlled substance Xanax, marijuana and alcohol to a minor; and two counts of use of a minor in sexual performance, “where she employed or induced (the minor)

Six families are suing the owners of a shuttered wood processing plant in Winchester, saying the chemicals used there caused cancer in nine neighbors, killing seven of them. The estates of Alvin Taylor Crowe, Verland Crowe, Mason David Crowe, Millard Wiseman, Clifford Wiseman, Herman Cooke and Onnia Lee Cooke are seven of the plaintiffs. All died of cancer and lived near the Winchester facility on Magnolia Street, according to the suit. The suit filed a week ago against Kentucky Wood Preserving Inc., Osmose Inc. and Kentucky Wood Preserving of Winchester Inc., seeks unspecified damages for the seven deaths and for the survivors, as well as a jury trial.

The following results were returned in open court: • Crystal R. Hager pleaded guilty to DUI and first-degree possession of cocaine, first offense. • William McIntosh is charged with DUI and second-degree persistent felony offender. He has a jury trial scheduled for Jan. 31 at 8:30 a.m. • Bobby Nickerson pleaded not guilty to complicity theft by unlawful taking and first-degree persistent felony. He has a jury trial set for Jan. 31 at 8:30 a.m. • Christine M. Adkins pleaded not guilty to theft of identity.

STANFORD - Tanya Shelton appeared Monday in Lincoln Circuit Court and pleaded innocent to charges of kidnapping a minor and second-degree burglary. She is accused of taking newborn Grayci Barrows from Fort Logan Hospital on April 2. A pre-trial hearing is set for 10 a.m. July 9 and a jury trial for Aug. 18.

Just weeks after a Jessamine County jury ruled in favor of Asbury University, former AU professor John Charalambakis filed a motion for a new trial, according to court documents dated Dec. 9. A jury trial was held Nov. 14-18, and according to court records, the jury found “Asbury had sufficient cause to terminate (Charalambakis)” from his tenured faculty position. The jury's verdict was unanimous, according to court records. Charalambakis, an economics professor at the college for 19 years, filed a lawsuit against Asbury University accusing the school's head administrators of discrimination, harassment, creating a hostile work environment and breach of contract, according to court documents.

A Georgetown man took a plea deal in a Jessamine County manslaughter case this week two days before the jury trial was scheduled. Diego R. Benavides, 24, pleaded guilty Monday to reckless homicide, admitting he caused the death of 20-year-old Kyle Feck on Nov. 1, 2008, when Feck and Benavides were drivers involved in a head-on collision on U.S. 68 between Ky. 169 and Catnip Hill Road. Benavides had been scheduled for a jury trial Wednesday morning on a charge of second-degree manslaughter, a Class C felony that would have carried a penalty of between five and 10 years; the charge of reckless homicide, a Class D felony, is punishable by one to five years in prison.

Frankie Crowley listened at his arraignment last year. On Monday, the day his jury trial was to begin, Crowley pleaded guilty for beating, raping and sodomizing a 62-year-old woman. Crowley, 42, McKinney, entered the woman's home on Oct. 28, 2006, struck her with a jar candle and assaulted her for two hours. DNA linked Crowley to the crime, said Commonwealth's Attorney Edie Montgomery. Mr. Montgomery has recommended a 20-year prison sentence for the offenses of first-degree rape and sodomy.

HARRODSBURG - When Paul Estes goes on trial for murder Monday, there will be no attempt to deny that he smothered Debora Brooks with a pillow and tied a paper bag over her head to finally suffocate her. Estes has already admitted that much to police in a tape-recorded statement that will be played during the trial. What Estes is hoping is that the jury seated to decide the case can be persuaded that he deserves a sentence no worse than Meghan Brooks, who received 17 years after pleading guilty earlier this year to second-degree manslaughter, hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence in her mother's death in 2009.  “He has taken responsibility for his actions.

The following results were returned in open court: • Crystal R. Hager pleaded guilty to DUI and first-degree possession of cocaine, first offense. • William McIntosh is charged with DUI and second-degree persistent felony offender. He has a jury trial scheduled for Jan. 31 at 8:30 a.m. • Bobby Nickerson pleaded not guilty to complicity theft by unlawful taking and first-degree persistent felony. He has a jury trial set for Jan. 31 at 8:30 a.m. • Christine M. Adkins pleaded not guilty to theft of identity.

A jury trial of the lawsuit against former-Judge Executive Buckwheat Gilbert and County Treasurer Teresa Padgett scheduled for Dec. 5 was postponed as all three parties in the case agreed to mediation outside of court. Cynthia Portwood, formerly a secretary at Planning and Zoning, filed a complaint in 2008 seeking damages from Gilbert and Padgett alleging the pair “intentionally, wantonly, willfully and maliciously communicated false and defamatory statements” about her. Portwood had left her job at P&Z before it became known that $20,000 in collected fees was missing.

Just weeks after a Jessamine County jury ruled in favor of Asbury University, former AU professor John Charalambakis filed a motion for a new trial, according to court documents dated Dec. 9. A jury trial was held Nov. 14-18, and according to court records, the jury found “Asbury had sufficient cause to terminate (Charalambakis)” from his tenured faculty position. The jury's verdict was unanimous, according to court records. Charalambakis, an economics professor at the college for 19 years, filed a lawsuit against Asbury University accusing the school's head administrators of discrimination, harassment, creating a hostile work environment and breach of contract, according to court documents.

A jury trial has been scheduled for January for a Wilmore woman facing multiple sex-crime charges, including third-degree rape. The trial for Ashley B. Bender, 30, of 705 Corbitt Drive in Wilmore will begin Jan. 10 at 8:30 a.m. in Jessamine Circuit Court. Bender was first arrested June 26 and indicted by a grand jury July 29 on 12 charges - five counts of third-degree rape; two counts of third-degree sodomy; three counts of unlawful transaction with a minor, where it is alleged that Bender provided controlled substance Xanax, marijuana and alcohol to a minor; and two counts of use of a minor in sexual performance, “where she employed or induced (the minor)

A Georgetown man took a plea deal in a Jessamine County manslaughter case this week two days before the jury trial was scheduled. Diego R. Benavides, 24, pleaded guilty Monday to reckless homicide, admitting he caused the death of 20-year-old Kyle Feck on Nov. 1, 2008, when Feck and Benavides were drivers involved in a head-on collision on U.S. 68 between Ky. 169 and Catnip Hill Road. Benavides had been scheduled for a jury trial Wednesday morning on a charge of second-degree manslaughter, a Class C felony that would have carried a penalty of between five and 10 years; the charge of reckless homicide, a Class D felony, is punishable by one to five years in prison.

A jury in Fayette County Circuit Court decided last week that the Cabinet for Health and Family Services did not retaliate against a former Jessamine County state social worker who claimed she'd experienced misconduct from a supervisor. The “whistle-blower” lawsuit filed by Jami Hall in November 2007 made its way to a jury trial in Judge Pamela Goodwine's courtroom that began July 18. In the lawsuit, Hall alleged that her supervisor, Melanie Taylor, had created a difficult work environment by falsifying documents, violating cabinet policies and using tactics such as placing past-due notices on Hall's office door for co-workers to see. Hall also claimed she reported concerns to Taylor's supervisor, Arthur Hayden, but nothing was done about the situation.

One man awaits a jury trial while two others have status hearings scheduled and each case, though unconnected, involves sex crimes, according to court documents. Kenneth Sammons Sammons, 35, of Fork Church Road, Lancaster, has a status hearing scheduled for Jan. 28 at 9 a.m. in Jessamine Circuit Court. He is charged with first-degree sexual abuse and second-degree persistent felony offender. He was arrested Aug. 4, 2010, after a 10-year-old female alleged that Sammons had sexual contact with her private area while lying together in bed, according to court documents.