By Mark Hansel
NKyTribune managing editor
Attorneys for David Dooley have requested a “reasonable” bond, so he might be able to get out of jail while he awaits a new trial.
David Dooley speaks with attorneys Jeff Lawson and Deanna Dennison prior to Wednesday’s hearing (photos by Mark Hansel).
Dooley was arrested in 2012 for killing Michelle Mockbee and was convicted in 2014.
After a CR 60.02 hearing, however, his conviction was overturned in May by Circuit Court Judge James R. Schrand and he was granted the new trial.
Wednesday, his attorneys, Deanna Dennison and Jeff Lawson, asked Schrand to reduce Dooley’s bond from $1 million to $100,000, cash or porperty, or to release their client on his own recognizance.
“Let’s start with the fact that Mr. Dooley has been incarcerated since the time of his arrest, which was almost five years ago,” Lawson said. “Since the very beginning of this case, he has maintained that he was innocent of the charge against him. We believe that he is innocent of these charges.”
Schrand is expected to make a decision on bond before a pretrial hearing on October 18, and could rule as early as this week.
Mockbee, a mother of two, was bludgeoned to death at the Thermo Fisher Scientific facility in Florence where both she and Dooley worked, shortly after arriving early on the morning of May 29, 2012.
Dooley was convicted of the killing in 2014 and was sentenced to life in prison. He has been housed at the Boone County Detention Center, awaiting a new trial, since June 6.
Special prosecutor Jon Heck (standing) of the Kentucky Office of the Attorney Generl asks Judge James R. Schrand to keep David Dooley’s bond at $1 million.
Lawson provided several reasons why he believes his client should be granted a lower bail.
“The jury was out for a significant period of time in the first trial,” Lawson said. “The case has no physical evidence that tied him to this particular offense. There are issues with the case that we saw in the (CR) 60.02 hearing and they are exacerbated now, going forward with a new trial.”
Among those issues is a video showing a man, identified as a random dude, on the Fisher Thermo Scientific Property just hours before Mockbee was killed.
The defense attorneys in Dooley’s original trial say they were never provided with that video and it is one of the reasons the new trial was granted.
The conduct of the investigators on the case, former Boone County Sheriff’s Detective Bruce McVay, and Deputy Everett Stahl, was also called into question at the CR 60.02 hearing and Lawson referenced that Wednesday.
“I think it’s also significant that the testimony of Detective Stahl, when looked at in the light of the 60.02 testimony,” Lawson said. “He testified at trail that no one could get through the area surrounding the building and then when he was up on the stand in the 60.02 hearing, he took part of that testimony back. I think that’s significant. It would have been extremely significant in the view of the jury, I believe, in the first trial.”
Stahl said he and McVay determined the man on the video to be a truck driver that was on the grounds at the time, but left shortly before Mockbee arrived for work.
The truck driver, who testified at the CR 60.02 hearing, said he did not leave his truck that night. Dooley’s attorneys also previously provided information from his driver’s license at the time of the killing, which does not appear to be consistent with the physical characteristics of the man in the video.
Tom Pugh, one of Dooley’s original trial attorneys, said the video evidence would have been a critical part of their defense.
“It would have been our closing (argument),” Pugh said.
Michelle Mockbee’s sisters, Cindy Parker, left, and Jennifer Schneider,say they expect David Dooley will remain in jail on a $1 million bond.
Jon Heck, a special prosecutor assigned by the Kentucky Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to represent the Commonwealth, said new trial notwithstanding, the bond is appropriate because Dooley remains charged with killing Mockbee.
“The bond must be commensurate with the gravity of the offense,” Heck said. “In this case it is murder. The most serious charge in our penal code.”
Heck found it interesting that Lawson referenced the conclusion of the jury.
“What the jury did, was find (Dooley) guilty,” Heck said. “All the evidence was heard; a woman was found dead on a filthy warehouse floor, nothing could be more serious. The bond must be commensurate with the gravity of the offense charged and $1 million bond is more than appropriate.”
Heck is representing the Commonwealth because Boone Commonwealth Attorney Linda Tally Smith has been removed from the case by the OAG.
Tally Smith admitted to having an affair with then-Detective McVay, which she said began after the murder trial was concluded. In correspondences, copies of which are contained on a thumb drive obtained by the OAG, she also calls McVey’s integrity into question.
In a letter to McVay, Tally Smith acknowledges she became aware of the contents of the video, but there is no indication she ever told the OAG or Dooley’s defense attorneys about it until the contents of the thumb drive came to light.
“…[Y]ou allowed me to go through a complete f…ing murder trial without telling me the truth about that video, and now that I know it, what the f… am I supposed to do now?”, she writes in the letter.
She also writes in a letter to McVay that she would have his back, if he cut corners on cases.
Tally Smith is currently under investigation by the Office of the Attorney General, but remains Commonwealth Attorney and recently announced she plans to seek reelection in 2018.
Boone Circuit Court Judge James R. Schrand is expected to rule on bail for David Dooley prior to a pretrial conference on October 18.
Special Prosecutors assigned by the OAG presented the State’s case at the CR 60.02 hearing and Heck is expected to represent the Commonwealth during the new trial.
In arguing for a lower bond, Lawson said a defendant deserves the presumption of innocence and the statute requires the court to consider Dooley’s financial means to pay, which is exceedingly low.
“A $1 million bond may as well be $100 million,” Lawson said. “We understand that there is a person who is no longer with us. We believe, judge, we know, that this defendant did not commit this crime. There is all kinds of things in this case that point to this defendant not being guilty.”
Heck acknowledged that there were issues with the first trial, but said the most compelling evidence that Dooley committed the crime is that a jury has already convicted him.
“When you get down to the motive, the means, the opportunity, it all points to David Dooley and the jury has already decided that one time and we think they are going to decide it again,” Heck said.
After the hearing, Dennison said DNA found on Mockbee’s body, which is not Dooley’s, is an important piece of evidence.
“They admit that whoever killed her dragged her down the hallway and whoever’s DNA is under her arms, it makes sense, would be the killer and it doesn’t point to David Dooley,” Dennison said. “How would you feel if you knew you were innocent and you were sitting in there; and this is going on six years now?”
Dennison was asked how the prosecution could present a case, since the evidence in the original trial was largely circumstantial and the credibility of key witnesses, including McVay and potentially, Tally Smith, has been called into question.
“That’s their problem,” she said.
Members of the Dooley and Mockbee families have been in the courtroom for every step in the retrial process. Representatives from the Dooley family did not want to comment, but Jennifer Schneider, Mockbee’s sister, said she does not expect Schrand to lower the bond.
“He presided over this case since day one and he saw all the evidence that all clearly points to David Dooley’s guilt,” Schneider said. “We don’t anticipate any lower bond granted. We fully support the $1 million bond to stand.”
Schrand presided over the original trial, as well as the CR 60.02 hearing and will preside over the retrial proceedings.
He could set the lower bond or release Dooley on his own recognizance, to home incarceration, or he could keep the bond at $1 million, which would likely keep him in jail, pending the outcome of the trial.
Contact Mark Hansel at mark.hansel@nkytrib.com
