HOPKINS COUNTY, KY – The Hopkins County Circuit Court held the pretrial conference for John Hamilton on Monday, January 11. The following morning Commonwealth attorney David Massamore issued a statement to iSurf News as to the current state of the case and the long-term potential.

In retrospect, Hamilton was originally arrested in a fatal hit and run case involving Hamilton’s vehicle and an 18-year-old Madisonville Resident, Julie Wooten. Hamilton was charged for murder and later released on a $20,000 bond. Then, in November of last year Hamilton was arrested once more, this time charged with alleged shoplifting. Again, Hamilton was released on bond. Hopkins County citizens have been watching the case closely, eagerly awaiting an end to what some have described as a political and judicial merry-go-round.

 Massamore told iSurf reporters that, as far as decisions go, the pretrial conference only had one main result. This was that neither side is ready to agree on a particular level of the crime and the appropriate punishment.

“Neither side is quite ready for trial yet,” said Massamore. “We haven’t reached a place where the level of consequence is agreeable to the parties involved. Both sides want to try and solve this one last time without a jury trial. We are going to attempt to achieve this by going into mediation.”

The mediation is set to begin in February wherein both sides, including the accused, the Defense Attorney, the Commonwealth attorney, and Detective Sanderson, and a representative of the victim will go before a mediator and try to reach an overall agreeable plea. The mediator will be a retired judge from somewhere within the Western Kentucky region. Massamore is, however, prepared to take the next and likely final step if an agreement is not reached.

“If this doesn’t work, I’ll ask that Hamilton gets the first available trial date,” Massamore said. “If I have to move cases out of the way, then I’ll do it, simply because of the nature of the offense and the time that has been invested in this case.”

iSurf News will continue to follow this case and keep our readers posted as new details emerge.

J. L. Graham
iSurf News