LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – A Kentucky appellate court has ordered the reinstatement of a murder case tied to a deadly 2020 crash in Lexington, ruling that a Fayette Circuit Court judge improperly dismissed the indictment.
In a 108-page unanimous opinion issued Friday, the Kentucky Court of Appeals vacated the trial court’s dismissal of charges against Cornell Denmark Thomas II and ordered the case returned to Fayette Circuit Court for further proceedings.
Thomas had been indicted on charges of wanton murder and leaving the scene of an accident involving a death following a July 2020 crash that killed Tammy Botkin.
According to the Court of Appeals, the trial court exceeded its authority by dismissing the indictment before trial, improperly weighing evidence and intruding on the roles of the grand jury, prosecutor, and a future trial jury. The appellate court described the dismissal as “fraught with legal errors and abuses of both its discretion and its authority.”…