By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
The long awaited David Dooley retrial is now scheduled to begin September 17.
David Dooley, flanked by his attorneys, Deanna Dennison and Jeff Lawson, prepares to leave a Boone County courtroom Thursday. A September 17 date was set for Dooley’s retrial in the killing of Michelle Mockbee (photo by Mark Hansel).
Circuit Court Judge James R. Schrand set the date at a pretrial conference today in Boone County.
Dooley is accused of killing Michelle Mockbee at the Thermo Fisher Scientific facility in the Northern Kentucky Industrial Park in Boone County, where both worked.
Mockbee was found bludgeoned to death shortly after she arrived at work on May 29, 2012.
Dooley was convicted of killing Mockbee, a Fort Mitchell mother of two small children, in 2014 and was sentenced to life in prison.
Schrand granted a new trial in May, 2017, following a CR 60.02 hearing, after which the judge determined that information that might have aided Dooley’s defense was withheld from his attorneys.
The Kentucky Office of the Attorney General (OAG) requested the CR 60.02 hearing, after questions arose about the conduct of Boone Commonwealth’s Attorney Linda Tally Smith. Generally, it is the defense team that requests a CR 60.02 hearing and legal consultants contacted by the Tribune say they can’t ever recall a prosecutor filing such a motion.
Schrand acknowledged the unusual nature of the request in his 18-page ruling.
“The procedural posture of the case is unique in that a “CR. 60.02 motion is normally the last chance for a ‘defendant’ to obtain the relief that he or she requests.”
The Attorney General took over the case in October, 2016 after a thumb drive turned over to the OAG by a former employee revealed the questionable conduct by Tally Smith.
Michelle Mockbee, a Fort Mitchell mother of two, was killed at the Thermo Fisher Scientific plant where she worked in May, 2012 (provided photo).
The Northern Kentucky Tribune has issued several FOIA requests to the OAG asking for the contents of the thumb drive to be released.
Those requests have been denied because some of the information contained on the thumb drive is part of ongoing legal action, including the Dooley retrial and civil litigation by Linda Tally Smith and her husband, District judge Jeffrey Smith against the former employee, Nicholas Ramler.
Tally Smith said Ramler is a disgruntled employee and turned the thumb drive over to the OAG after he was fired. Ramler’s attorney, Steve Wolnitzek, says his client is a whistleblower who provided the thumb drive, the contents of which were stored on a server in the Commonwealth Attorney’s office, because of their content, as it relates to Tally Smith’s conduct.
Some of the contents of thumb drive were made public as evidence in the CR 60.02 hearing.
That included information that Tally Smith had an affair with then-Boone County Sheriff’s Detective Bruce McVay, the lead investigator in the Mockbee killing. Tally Smith and McVay admitted to the affair under oath, during the CR 60.02 hearing. Tally Smith says the affair began after Dooley was convicted and McVay is now retired from the Sheriff’s Department.
The thumb drive also contained correspondences between Tally Smith and McVay, including one where she indicated she would cover for the detective if he ever engaged in questionable conduct during investigations.
“Even if I was aware that you had lied here or there on cases, I wouldn’t have wavered in that loyalty to you and ‘having your back,” Tall Smith wrote.
It was revealed today that Everett Stall, the other investigator involved in the Dooley investigation, has also retired from the Boone County Sheriff’s Department.
In an excerpt from a correspondence that was made public, Tally Smith states Stahl was brought onto the case because of concerns within the department about McVay’s conduct.
“What you never knew is that Everett was only assigned to work with us on trial prep because I was not the only one that was concerned. In fact, one of your supervisors and I actually met early on about it and he told me in no uncertain terms that he believed that you were a “high functioning alcoholic.” He said that he believed that when you disappeared from the office during the day without mentioning where you were going, that you were leaving to drink … just to get through the work day.”
Jon Heck, a special prosecutor with the OAG’s office who has taken over the case, said Stahl will be available to testify at trial.
The case will still need to be investigated in preparation for trial, however, and Stahl’s retirement means that neither of the lead detectives on the case, nor the Commonwealth Attorney who originally prosecuted it, will be involved in that process.
Dooley, who has always maintained his innocence, has been incarcerated since his arrest in 2012. His wife, Janet Dooley, said she is relieved that a trial date has finally been set.
“This has been a nightmare,” she said.
Jennifer Schneider, Michelle Mockbee’ sister, said she is confident that the right man is in jail.
“We are happy that we finally have a trial date set and we can look forward to that and start to plan around it,” Schneider said. “It’s all about justice for Michelle.”
Schrand said there will probably be a series of pretrial hearings, about once a month, to deal with any issues that come up prior to trial.
The next hearing is scheduled for April 12.
For the NKyTribune’s complete coverage of the Dooley case, go to www.nkytribune.com and, using the search tool, enter the word “Dooley.”
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
