Sunday, February 14, 2010
Indictment Dismissed Against Pikeville Woman
KENTUCKY....
During an eight-day trial in 2007, Rhonda Seymour Justice of Pikeville was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison after her 4 year old son, Joshua Justice, drowned in a neighbor’s swimming pool while roaming around unsupervised in the Vanover Lane neighborhood on July 10, 2005. After serving two years, she was released on bond in October, awaiting a new trial. Floyd Commonwealth’s Attorney Arnold Brent Turner entered a motion Friday in Pike Circuit Court, asking the indictment against her be dismissed. With prejudice, Circuit Judge Steve Combs granted the request with the stipulation that she admit there was probable cause to bring the indictment. In March, the Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed Justice’s conviction, on the grounds that Combs, as judge, erred in allowing testimony pointing to prior "bad acts" by Justice, which occurred before her son's death. Turner said, if found guilty at a new trial and sentenced to the maximum, she would have been almost immediately eligible for parole.
During an eight-day trial in 2007, Rhonda Seymour Justice of Pikeville was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 10 years in prison after her 4 year old son, Joshua Justice, drowned in a neighbor’s swimming pool while roaming around unsupervised in the Vanover Lane neighborhood on July 10, 2005. After serving two years, she was released on bond in October, awaiting a new trial. Floyd Commonwealth’s Attorney Arnold Brent Turner entered a motion Friday in Pike Circuit Court, asking the indictment against her be dismissed. With prejudice, Circuit Judge Steve Combs granted the request with the stipulation that she admit there was probable cause to bring the indictment. In March, the Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed Justice’s conviction, on the grounds that Combs, as judge, erred in allowing testimony pointing to prior "bad acts" by Justice, which occurred before her son's death. Turner said, if found guilty at a new trial and sentenced to the maximum, she would have been almost immediately eligible for parole.
# posted by Homer Owens @ 7:41 PM 
