A judge will hold a hearing March 10 to determine if a McCreary County Master Commissioner and Trial Commissioner should lose his license … over three and a half years after he was initially arrested for drunk driving following an automobile accident in Williamsburg.
Timothy D. Lavender, 59, of Whitley City, was finally in court on Feb. 23 following a long lull during which the case seemingly dropped off the judicial radar. Special Judge Ralph E. McClanahan II presided over the pretrial conference in Lavender’s case, held in Whitley District Court last Wednesday. He ordered a special hearing be held March 10 at 1:00 p.m. to determine if Lavender’s license to drive will be suspended prior to trial.
Under Kentucky law, anyone who is suspected of driving under the influence must submit to a take a Breathalyzer test, blood or urine test, at the request of the arresting officer, or face increased penalties, automatic license suspension and difficulties in being granted a hardship license.
Lavender was initially arrested on June 8, 2007 and charged with first-offense DUI and possession of an open alcoholic beverage container in a motor vehicle.
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.
During his last scheduled court appearance, Lavender’s attorney, Ron Reynolds, and Special Prosecutor Phil Chaney told former special judge Roger Elliott that an agreed order had been reached 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 order never actually appeared in the court file until Feb. 16 of last month when it was finally entered. It was not signed by Elliott.
The order would have essentially dismissed the DUI charge against Lavender due to an "absence of proof" that a prosecutor could prove beyond a reasonable doubt he was guilty.
Chaney is the former County Attorney in McCreary County.
On Feb. 23, Attorney General Jack Conway assigned a new special prosecutor to the case. It will be someone from the office of the Wayne County Attorney.
