Area attorney’s DUI case stalled in court system for over three years

There may finally be some movement on the criminal case against a McCreary County Master Commissioner and Trial Commissioner accused of drunk driving after he was involved in an accident in Williamsburg in 2007.

Timothy D. Lavender, 59, of Whitley City, was initially arrested and charged on June 8, 2007 with DUI and possession of an open alcoholic beverage container in a motor vehicle.

According to court records, he hasn’t made an appearance in court on the charges since July 21, 2008. The case has taken a strange set of twists and unlikely turns that have caused the lengthy delays.

Whitley Circuit Court Clerk Gary Barton said Tuesday that he processed paperwork recently assigning a new special judge to the case. Ralph E. McClanahan II, who formerly served as a District Judge for Estill, Lee and Owsley Counties until he retired last year, will now preside.

But the move comes over two and a half years after court records show an "agreed order" was supposed to be submitted in the case. An agreed order is typically a compromise between prosecutors and defendants, used many times as a tool to settle cases without an actual guilty plea, but it can be used for other aspects of a case. Often, if the terms of an agreed order are followed, then charges could be dismissed in exchange.

The terms of the proposed agreed order in Lavender’s case aren’t known because they were never submitted as part of the court file. Barton said the term for the former Special Judge who handled the case, Roger P. Elliott, expired rather suddenly and that it is possible the order got lost in the process. He said a request to assign a new Special Judge was made to his office about two weeks ago, but he didn’t know by whom. Typically, senior judges make such requests.

Whitley District Judge Cathy Prewitt, who was originally assigned the case, recused herself. Normally, judges remove themselves from cases where their relationship with or knowledge of parties involved might cloud their impartiality or give the appearance of favoritism.

Following his arrest, Lavender was hastily released from custody at the Whitley County Detention Center. He spent only six minutes in the facility before he was released on his own recognizance; not required to put up any money or property as part of his bond. It was ordered as a condition of his bond that he have no further violations of the law. Prewitt set the bond and bond conditions in the case.

Lavender was in a 2001 Ford F-150 truck on June 8, 2007 when a vehicle accident occurred on KY 92W that was allegedly Lavender’s fault. Whitley County Third District Constable Jim Thornton investigated the case.

Thornton said he was working another accident on the other side of the mountain that Lavender passed by before getting into a three-vehicle wreck of his own on Ky. 92 about three miles west of Williamsburg.

Lavender allegedly left skid marks where he went across the double yellow line, and sideswiped one vehicle before hitting another nearly head on, Thornton said.

Police recovered five fifths of liquor in Lavender’s vehicle, including an open bottle that was stuck between the driver’s seat and the center console, Thornton said. He allegedly refused to take a breathalyzer test, blood and urine test following his arrest. Under Kentucky law, refusal to submit to such tests can results in automatic license revocation, increased jail time and inability to be granted a hardship license.

Lavender is still serving as a Trial Commissioner and Master Commissioner in McCreary County according to the Kentucky Administrative Office of the Courts. He is being represented in the case by Williamsburg attorney Ron Reynolds. Though a new judge has been assigned to his case, no future court appearances are yet scheduled.