CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is requesting a special prosecutor be appointed in the case of Alyssa Middleton, the former ambulance driver accused of fatally running over Elkview man John Lucas earlier this year.
Kanawha County Prosecuting Attorney Debra Rusnak filed a motion with Kanawha County Circuit Judge Dave Hardy Monday evening requesting her disqualification from the case. Middleton is charged with voluntary manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide, and leaving the scene of an accident causing death for the April incident.
The motion points to strained relations with the Lucas family, including alleged statements by friends and family that the community will “take matters into their own hands” if the case’s outcome is not appropriate under their standards. Those statements resulted in a 24-hour law enforcement presence at Rusnak’s home.
Two specific incidents are described in the motion, including one in which Lucas’s sister allegedly became aggressive with Rusnak’s executive assistant while Rusnak was present and another in which Rusnak was allegedly confronted by Lucas’s family and friends at the Kanawha County Judicial Annex following the case’s most recent hearing.
She alleges that a family member told her to “bend the rules, break the rules, or do whatever you have to do,” to win the case. The motion also states members of Lucas’s family indicated that they would commit criminal acts because they “know nothing will happen to them and they won’t go to jail.”
Additionally, the filing cites the publicity for the case generated by the Lucas family, alleged attempts by the family to “intimidate and/or influence the Prosecuting Attorney,” and “protests, social media campaigns, and personal threats” against the defendant, investigators, and prosecuting attorney.
As a result of those claims, Rusnak states that “justice may only be served and the appearance of impropriety be avoided by the appointment of a special prosecutor.”
Judge Hardy submitted the request to the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute on Monday.