Trial continued Tuesday in the perjury trial of former Hopkinsville Police Lt. Jefferson Alexander.
A grand jury indictment was returned in March of 2019 against Alexander for first-degree perjury and 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 spent several hours on the stand Tuesday morning, finishing answering the Commonwealth’s questions and then facing a tough line of questioning from defense attorney Eric Eaton.
Eaton asked Cherry about occasions when she showed photos of Billy Sanders, a Black man, to a victim of the prowler, despite being told by former Lt. Michael Felts that HPD believed the suspect to be white.
He read a question Alexander is accused of perjuring himself on to the grand jury, noting the confusing nature of the wording.
Former Hopkinsville Police Chief Guy Howie took the stand in the afternoon, recalling what he remembered about the ‘prowler’ incident in 2012, saying it was more than just a standard ‘prowler’ type case. He says he and Cherry had frustrations with each other but that had little do with the case—after she continued take actions in regards to the case after being asked to stop, that’s when he approached former Commonwealth’s Attorney Lynn Pryor.
Eaton focused several times on the difficulty of answering complicated, compound questions similar to the ones asked of Alexander during the grand jury testimony, doing the same with FBI Special Agent Sean Miller, who also testified in the afternoon. He is the agent who investigated the accusations of perjury against Alexander.