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Dooley pretrial conference rescheduled; new calls for investigation of Tally Smith, one from an inmate


By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor

A pretrial conference for David Wayne Dooley that was expected to take place Wednesday in Boone County has been rescheduled for June 28.

David Wayne Dooley smiles at family members as he is led into the courtroom for a retrial hearing earlier this year. Dooley was convicted of killing Michelle Mockbee in 2014, but his sentence was vacated and he was granted a new trial in May (photos by Mark Hansel).

Dooley was convicted of killing Michelle Mockbee, a mother of two, at the Thermo Scientific facility in Florence where both worked, in 2012, and was sentenced to life in prison.

In May, Boone Circuit Court Judge James R. Schrand vacated Dooley’s 2014 conviction and sentence and granted him a new trial following a CR 60.02 hearing requested by the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General (OAG).

In an 18-page ruling, Schrand determined evidence that could have aided in Dooley’s defense was withheld from his lawyers during the 2014 trial.

“IT IS HEREBY ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Defendant’s conviction on the charges of Murder and Tampering with Physical Evidence are vacated and the Defendant shall be given a new trial,” Schrand wrote.

Dooley’s lawyers at the CR 60.02 hearing, Deanna Dennison and Jeff Lawson, argued that evidence of a video showing a “random dude” at the crime scene hours before Mockbee was killed should have been provided to the defense team.

The OAG took over the case and asked for the CR 60.02 hearing to determine if Dooley should be granted a new trial because of questions that arose about the conduct of Commonwealth Attorney Linda Tally Smith. It is almost always the defense team that requests a retrial hearing and NKyTribune legal consultants say they can’t ever recall a case where prosecutors made the request.

In addition to the information that Schrand determined was withheld during the murder trial, information obtained by the OAG also revealed that Tally Smith had an affair with the then-Boone County Sheriff’s investigator Bruce McVay, the lead detective on the case.

Tally Smith claims the affair began after Dooley’s conviction, but she was at the time, and remains, married to District Judge Jeffrey Smith.

Boone Commonwealth Attorney Linda Tally Smith chokes up during testimony at the Dooley retrial hearing.

The OAG obtained the information from a thumb drive provided by Nicholas Ramler, a former employee of the Commonwealth Attorney’s office.  Tally Smith and Judge Smith are involved in a civil case with Ramler regarding the contents of the thumb drive.

Tally Smith claims Ramler attempted to use the information to blackmail her when his job was in jeopardy. Ramler’s attorneys say he had an obligation to turn the thumb drive over to the OAG because of the information it contained.

In a letter to Attorney General Andy Beshear that the Tribune obtained through an open records request, Ramler’s attorney, Steve Wolnitzek, states:

“Mrs. Tally Smith failed to disclose impeachable evidence, and possible evidence of perjury, to defense counsel in the case currently on appeal before the Supreme Court of Kentucky: David Wayne Dooley v. Commonwealth of Kentucky.”

The Supreme Court held that case in abeyance pending the ruling on the CR 60.02 hearing and it became moot with Schrand’s decision.

The letter provides some of the emails and texts between Tally Smith and McVay, including one where Tally Smith writes:

“…you allowed me to go through a complete (expletive) murder trial without telling me the truth about that video, and now that I know it, what the (expletive) am I supposed to do now?”

In other correspondences, revealed at the CR 60.02 hearing, Tally Smith also writes that even if she knew McVay lied on cases, she would have his back and that the detective frequently skirted the rules, a practice that was common knowledge among his colleagues in the department.

Calls for investigations and a claim of destroyed evidence

The Tribune requested a copy of the thumb drive from the OAG at the conclusion of the CR 60.02 hearing.

Former Boone County Sheriff’s Det. Bruce McVay (standing) speaks with special prosecutors at the Dooley retrial hearing.

The Tribunes’s request was denied because the information “constitutes possible evidence in a criminal trial (the Dooley retrial) the Office of the Attorney General is prosecuting as a special prosecutor. Premature disclosure of that evidence would harm the office by revealing information – that may or may not be admissible – that could poison the jury pool and otherwise compromise the case.”

Tally Smith says she is being judged in the court of public opinion through the documents that have been released thus far.

If there is additional information on the thumb drive that is pertinent to this case or her conduct, be it exculpatory or incriminating, it is the Tribune’s opinion that the public has a right to see it.

There have been calls from the Boone County GOP and several elected officials, including Boone County Judge/Executive Gary Moore and Boone County Attorney Robert Neace, for Tally Smith to resign. Neace also wrote to the OAG asking for Tally Smith’s conduct to be investigated.

Tally Smith has said she will not step down, but is up for reelection in November, 2018. As first reported in the Tribune, Louis Kelly, an attorney from Union, has announced plans to seek the GOP nomination for 54th Circuit Commonwealth Attorney in the May primary.

The Tribune has learned through open records requests that at least three other people have called for the investigation of Tally Smith and/or the Boone County Sheriff’s Office.

One request comes from an inmate serving a 10-year sentence in the Boone County Justice Center. The inmate, who is not being named, said withholding of evidence in Boone County, “is not an isolated event.” He claims that a voice recording he requested for 10 months was destroyed.

At the Dooley hearing, McVay testified that his voice recorder malfunctioned during an interview and he relied on notes to provide interview comments from Dooley that were used at the murder trial. Dooley disputes McVay’s recollection of the statements made at the interview.

It is not clear if McVay was an investigator on the inmate’s case. Tally Smith wrote in a correspondence other detectives in the Department, however, considered McVay a mentor and referred to the practice of violating rules as “pulling a McVay.”

There has been speculation that if Dooley was granted a new trial, others convicted in Boone County would raise questions about the fairness of their prosecutions.

While it is not unusual for those convicted of crimes to claim innocence, McVay’s conduct, as alleged in Tally Smith’s correspondences, could add credence to some of those claims in Boone County.

The other requests for investigation come from citizens who say they have lost faith in the justice system.

Legal experts say Dooley’s attorneys will almost certainly request bail at some point, since their client’s sentence has been vacated, but he is still charged with murder, so Schrand may not grant the request.

The pretrial conference is now scheduled for 9 a.m. on Wednesday, June 28, in Courtroom 4B of the Boone County Courthouse. Judge Schrand, who presided over Dooley’s original trial, and the CR 60.02 hearing, is scheduled to hear the case.

A pretrial conference is just a first step in a trail and the actual seating of a jury and testimony is likely weeks, or possibly months, away.

Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com

To follow the Tribune’s coverage of this case, click on the links:

Boone Commonwealth’s Attorney seeks damages from fired employee; says he shared personal info

Questions about conduct of Commonwealth’s Att’y could lead to new trial for convicted murderer Dooley

Explosive allegations against Commonwealth’s Attorney, investigators contained in Dooley filing

‘Random dude’ key to first day of testimony in Dooley new trial hearing; judge denies motion to recuse

Defense hammers home argument that withholding of video evidence warrants new trial for Dooley

Former detective McVay admits to affair with Boone Commonwealth’s Att’y; another video is revealed

Boone Commonwealth’s Attorney Tally Smith admits to affair, says she did not withhold evidence

Testimony completed in Dooley hearing; families must wait several weeks to see if new trial is granted

Tribune analysis: Commonwealth’s Attorney Tally Smith should resign; state AG should investigate

Boone County GOP to wait for resolution of legal matters to discuss asking Tally Smith’s to resign

New trial for convicted killer David Wayne Dooley


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One Comment

  1. Dave Neal says:

    HELL IS WAITING FOR LINDA TALLY-SMITH. SHE IS EVIL AND GOD WILL PUNISH HER THE REST OF HER TIME ON EARTH.

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