FRANKFORT, Ky. (KT) – A three-judge Kentucky Court of Appeals panel has unanimously reversed a Fayette Circuit Court judge’s decision dismissing a murder charge and ordered the charge to be reinstated.
The Attorney General’s office led the appeal of the Fayette Circuit Court’s order that dismissed the indictment against Cornell Denmark Thomas, II.
In a 108-page opinion, the three-judge panel stated, “The trial court’s order is fraught with legal errors and abuses of both its discretion and its authority, making it necessary that we VACATE the order, REINSTATE the indictment against Appellee, and REMAND to the Fayette Circuit Court for further proceedings as instructed.”
According to the ruling, “Early on a Friday morning in July 2020, Thomas drove his car into a Leestown Road intersection at 96 miles per hour, ignored a red light, and avoided halted traffic using the left turn lane to go straight. He struck Tammy Botkin’s vehicle as she traversed the intersection at 14 miles per hour. The collision severed Botkin’s torso and ejected the upper portion of her body onto the roadway as her vehicle spun into other lanes and caught fire. Appellee left his own disabled vehicle and fled the scene on foot.”…