The attorney for retired Hopkinsville Police Lt. Jefferson Alexander is asking the Kentucky Court of Appeals to compel Christian Circuit Judge John Atkins to grant a previous motion by the former prosecutor to dismiss a perjury charge.
A grand jury indictment was returned in March of 2019 against Alexander for first-degree perjury. It stems from an FBI investigation which brought allegations that on August 17th, 2012, he gave false testimony on three occasions when he was the only sworn witness before a grand jury that indicted former Hopkinsville City Councilmember Ann Cherry on charges of tampering with a witness, tampering with public records, and second-degree official misconduct.
The Hopkinsville Police Department alleged Cherry hindered their investigation into the ‘Southside Prowler’ case by using her official capacity as a member of council.
Cherry accepted a deal in 2013 that required her to step down from her council position and to never run for election to council or for mayor of Hopkinsville in the future. The charges were dropped under the agreement.
The first special prosecutor, Commownealth’s Attorney Carrie Ovey-Wiggins, was prepared to dismiss the indictment against Alexander during a January 27 hearing, but Cherry invoked Marsy’s law as the victim in the case to buy time to seek a new prosecutor.
The Kentucky Attorney General’s Office appointed James Lesousky to replace Wiggins and he filed a motion to withdraw the motion to dismiss.
In a petition filed recently with the Court of Appeals, attorney Eric Eaton contends Alexander doesn’t have any proper channel to appeal the refusal by Judge Atkins to immediately grant the motion to dismiss and says the judge relied on communication from Cherry outside of court to grant the delay.
In previous filings, Eaton contended Marsy’s Law gives Cherry no standing in the case, because the Commonwealth and defendant agreed no crime had been committed, which would mean there would not be a victim in the matter.
Eaton requests the Court of Appeals compel the local court to grant the dismissal, saying not doing so would be a “miscarriage of justice.”