CHARLESTON, W.Va – The trial for a Kanawha County ambulance driver charged with running over and killing a man in Elkview will not proceed until the state Supreme Court of Appeals rules on a potential precedent-setting case.
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Dave Hardy stated he would not rule on a motion to change the trial’s venue by attorneys for Alyssa Middleton at this time. The state Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on an appeal by Natalie Cochran, the Raleigh County woman convicted of murdering her husband last year, that states the judge in that case erred by denying her a change of venue.
“The attorneys for Ms. Cochran are arguing that today, with all of the social media and all of the instantaneous communication, that the judge should have gone farther,” Hardy said Tuesday.
Middleton, 19, is charged with voluntary manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, and fleeing the scene of an accident-causing death, all felonies, in the April death of John Lucas. Attorneys for Natalie Cochran are arguing that then-Raleigh County Circuit Judge H.L. “Kirk” Kirkpatrick should have allowed the trial to be moved, even though he successfully seated a jury in Raleigh County.
Kirkpatrick was elected to the state Supreme Court in April.
“I think the Cochran case is going to be an opportunity for the Supreme Court to give us some instruction, or they’re going to say that what the Raleigh County judge did was absolutely correct,” Hardy said.
On April 16, the ambulance driven by Middleton struck the 45-year-old Lucas. Prosecutors claim she did not stop after hitting him and dragged him nearly two miles.
Because the case garnered significant social media attention, Middleton’s defense team filed a motion to seal the trial’s location if it were moved. Hardy denied that motion and stated that any trial or hearing related to the case would be conducted in open court.
“Everything that’s going to happen in this trial is going to be in an open courtroom, including if the court would change venue. It would not be a sealed or a secret venue. It would be open and announced,” Hardy said.
A joint motion to continue the trial, originally scheduled to begin next month, was granted as both the prosecution and defense await key pieces of evidence. Chief among that evidence is a report by the state medical examiner’s office conducted after Lucas’s death.
“I think the medical examiner has already conducted their examination in this case. We’re just waiting on the report from them. We’ll get it on their time. There’s nothing our office can do to really expedite that,” Kanawha County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Ryanne Ball said.
The defense agreed that no trial should move forward without a medical examiner’s report. Attorney Robbie Long argued the results of that report would be important to his client’s defense.
“The medical examiner’s report, among other things, is going to state cause of death, manner of death, etc. It may give rise to the defense wanting to seek its own expert opinion or otherwise, but we can’t get there without the report,” he said.
The prosecution also subpoenaed medical records from Vandalia Health/CAMC that have not yet been delivered. Additionally, technical issues with the transfer of large files resulted in a delay in some evidence being turned over to the defense.
Judge Hardy scheduled a status hearing for the case on September 11 but reserved the right to call another hearing as soon as the medical examiner’s report is received.