A man charged in a Dawson Springs Road attempted murder case appeared in Christian Circuit Judge John Atkinsâ court Wednesday morning with his new attorney after withdrawing his plea deal early last month.
Brian Ellis, 44, appeared in court via Zoom while at the Christian County Jail with his new defense attorney Peyton Wilson out of Paducah appearing in Atkinsâ courtroom.
Wilson shared with the court that he had been assigned to the case just two weeks ago.
On Jan. 4, Ellis was scheduled to receive his final sentence but arrived late, missing his hearing. He previously entered two Alford plea deals that his attorney at the time, Rick Sanborn, had been able to secure for Ellis.
Several high-profile cases were heard in Christian Circuit court Wednesday, including a 2018 local motel room murder case, a kidnapping and assault case as well as a drug trafficking and robbery case.
Terrance L. Stepp, 31, Madisonville, appeared in Judge John Atkinsâ court via Zoom while being held at the Christian County Jail while his defense attorney, Michael Thompson appeared from his office.
Thompson began the court conference by explaining that he had finally received roughly 93 DVDs worth of evidence in the case, but is still waiting on a thumb drive that contains several items of paper evidence.
Thompson then requested that the case be continued for roughly a month to allow him to meet with Stepp as he has not yet been able to.
The woman accused in the 2019 Greenville Road murder is set to enter a plea deal next week in Christian Circuit Judge John Atkinsâ courtroom after her and her defense counsel reached a resolution with the commonwealth.
Anshanique Leavell, 22, appeared in Atkinsâ court via Zoom while at the Christian County Jail Wednesday morning as Christian County Assistant Commonwealthâs Attorney Jerad Smith explained the situation with Leavellâs case on behalf of Commonwealthâs Attorney Rick Boling.
Smith explained that he was advised that a resolution had been reached in the case and requested that the case be continued one week to allow Leavell to enter the plea.
The suspect accused of the 2015 Pembroke triple murder appeared in Christian Circuit Court Wednesday for a motion to dismiss the case to be heard by Judge John Atkins.
Christian Martin, 52, appeared in court via Zoom while at the Christian County Jail while his defense attorneys Tom Griffiths and Doug Moore also appeared via Zoom.
Atkins explained that the motion submitted by the defense to dismiss the case was based on Martinâs due process allegedly being violated. Atkins also shared that he had reviewed the written motion by the defense as well as the commonwealthâs response, but asked Griffiths if he had anything to add before Atkins ruled on the motion.
Judge Atkins asked Sanborn to have Ellis in court at 10:00 Monday morning with proof of a positive COVID-19 test.
Ellis is charged with two counts of attempted murder, six counts of first-degree wanton endangerment, and multiple drug charges. Those charges stemmed from September 1st when Christian County sheriff’s deputies were called to the 2900 block of Dawson Springs Road for a report of shots fired and found a home had been hit twice. Shortly thereafter, they were called to the 10,000 block of Hart Road for a car that had been hit in a second shooting. Deputies said they determined Ellis was involved in both shootings, and he was located and arrested on Wallace Avenue in Hopkinsville.