New Trial In Michelle Mockbee Murder?

[Clyde]

Will this text message be a problem for the prosecution?

Lawsuit: Expletive-laden text raises questions about detective in Dooley case

[CincySportsFan]

Clyde said:

Will this text message be a problem for the prosecution?

Lawsuit: Expletive-laden text raises questions about detective in Dooley case

I don't see how it couldn't be. I mean, if she had just called him a liar (or even an expletive liar), and that was the end of the text, it'd be hard to be anticipate what level of lying she was rereferring to in that text. But, to come out and say that his lying is going to have implications on actual cases...that takes it to a whole new level.

[littleluck55]

I assume the law clerk Ramler will no longer be working as a law clerk for anyone in the future.

[Beechwoodfan]

You would think a prosecutor would be very careful about texts.

[lawildcat]

Beechwoodfan said:

You would think a prosecutor would be very careful about texts.

...or affairs with people she works with. 😂

[Clyde]

A hearing will be held Monday.

[Clyde]

Defense withheld a video.

Dooley attorneys: Surveillance video withheld-personnel file "sanitized" | WKRC

[mexitucky]

Man, those emails and text messages...Dooley is soon going to be a free man with a lot of money and a family is not going to be any closer to closure for why their wife/mother/daughter was murdered.

[ggclfan]

This is the first time I have really read through this case thoroughly. All I have to say is YIKES! This looks like a Hollywood movie script...cannot make this up. I feel so bad for the family. Even they have to have doubts about whether the guy in jail did this...

[lawildcat]

Lead detective admits affair with prosecutor in murder case

A tense court hearing Thursday led to the admission from the lead detective in one of Northern Kentucky's most infamous murder cases that he had a sexual relationship with the prosecutor.

David Dooley, convicted of the 2012 murder of Michelle Mockbee, hopes his defense attorneys can raise enough doubts about former Boone County Detective Bruce McVay and Commonwealth Attorney Linda Tally Smith to warrant a new trial.

It would be a shocking twist in a case that already earned national attention, including an hourlong Dateline episode. Mockbee, a 42-year-old mother of two, was found beaten to death outside Thermo Fisher Scientific where she worked in a Boone County industrial park.

A jury convicted Dooley, the janitor at Thermo Fisher, of her murder.

Some gasps and murmurs could be heard in a Boone County courtroom during the third day of testimony on Thursday for the hearing to decide whether Dooley will get retried.

The gasps were in response to McVay's testimony. Dooley's defense attorneys, Deanna Dennison and Jeff Lawson, have argued Tally Smith and McVay withheld evidence, most notably a surveillance video from a neighboring company of Thermo Fisher on the property 10 hours before Mockbee’s murder. The video showed a man walking up to the building, appearing to pull on the door, and then walking out of frame.

Defense witnesses, mostly attorneys from his trial, have said this proves others had access to the property and could have committed the crime.

Now it appears McVay and Tally Smith had an affair, according to the testimony Thursday. Tally Smith is married to Boone County District Court Judge Jeffrey Smith.

Dennison has questioned the integrity of McVay, the lead detective, bringing up numerous disciplinary actions taken against him by his former employers, the Florence Police Department and Boone County Sheriff’s Department.

McVay at first portrayed his relationship with Tally Smith as platonic.

“Friends, we were just friends,” McVay said.

Dennison, anger rising in her voice, reminded McVay he was under oath and asked him again if he was denying a sexual relationship.

“Is it any of your business?” McVay said, glaring at Dennison from the stand.

Dennison asked him again and again reminding him of his oath. McVay then said “yes” in a quiet, resigned manner.

Emails between McVay and Tally Smith under pseudonyms became more evidence for the defense. McVay, using the name Carter Davidson, and Tally Smith, using the name Chiquita Queen, would exchange private emails, Dennison said.

Dennison read one of these emails in court. An email from Carter Davidson to Chiquita Queen outlined why detectives didn’t tell the prosecutor about an interview with a truck driver from Texas whom authorities identified as the man in the video. Dooley’s defense team disputes this identification based on the truck driver appearing much larger than the man in the video. Also, the truck driver, Alvin Reynolds, testified earlier in the week he never left his truck.

McVay, as Carter Davidson, wrote he didn’t tell Tally Smith about Reynolds because she appeared stressed. That’s according to Dooley’s defense attorney who read the email in court

“We are confident in the follow-up interview with the drive by phone who it was,” the email, as read by Dennison, stated. “My partner discussed it. We made a choice to not say anything at the time, cause we could see the stress the case was causing. If the choice to not say anything makes me a liar, then I guess I’m a liar.”

The special prosecutors from the Office of the Attorney General, who have taken over the case, declined to cross-examine McVay.

McVay's attorney, Ben Dusing, after the testimony said his client did not withhold evidence and did nothing wrong in the investigation. He said it will become clearer when Tally Smith testifies, something that's expected to occur in the next day. Dusing said the affair began after the Dooley trial concluded in September 2014.

"Until then, it's just a couple drips of information that have no connectedness," Dusing said. "But Linda will tie everything together. Bruce is in a tough spot. He's a 30-year veteran, served the community, well-regarded, highly respected law enforcement officer. He made a mistake and has always owned that."

[ggclfan]

If you think you are having a bad day, just think of McVay...his day today has been much worse...

[lawildcat]

I love the quote from McVay's attorney in the last paragraph of post #29.

"He made a mistake and has always owned that" - Ummm, no he didn't - he was pretty much forced to admit on the stand that him and Smith were having an affair.

[Colonels_Wear_Blue]

lawildcat said:

I love the quote from McVay's attorney in the last paragraph of post #29.

"He made a mistake and has always owned that" - Ummm, no he didn't - he was pretty much forced to admit on the stand that him and Smith were having an affair.

Well...he's a defense attorney. I wouldn't trust Ben Dusing any further than I can spit in the first place. If you ask me, the fact that McVay has Dusing defending him is an indictment in and of itself.

[theguru]

lawildcat said:

Lead detective admits affair with prosecutor in murder case

A tense court hearing Thursday led to the admission from the lead detective in one of Northern Kentucky's most infamous murder cases that he had a sexual relationship with the prosecutor.

David Dooley, convicted of the 2012 murder of Michelle Mockbee, hopes his defense attorneys can raise enough doubts about former Boone County Detective Bruce McVay and Commonwealth Attorney Linda Tally Smith to warrant a new trial.

It would be a shocking twist in a case that already earned national attention, including an hourlong Dateline episode. Mockbee, a 42-year-old mother of two, was found beaten to death outside Thermo Fisher Scientific where she worked in a Boone County industrial park.

A jury convicted Dooley, the janitor at Thermo Fisher, of her murder.

Some gasps and murmurs could be heard in a Boone County courtroom during the third day of testimony on Thursday for the hearing to decide whether Dooley will get retried.

The gasps were in response to McVay's testimony. Dooley's defense attorneys, Deanna Dennison and Jeff Lawson, have argued Tally Smith and McVay withheld evidence, most notably a surveillance video from a neighboring company of Thermo Fisher on the property 10 hours before Mockbee’s murder. The video showed a man walking up to the building, appearing to pull on the door, and then walking out of frame.

Defense witnesses, mostly attorneys from his trial, have said this proves others had access to the property and could have committed the crime.

Now it appears McVay and Tally Smith had an affair, according to the testimony Thursday. Tally Smith is married to Boone County District Court Judge Jeffrey Smith.

Dennison has questioned the integrity of McVay, the lead detective, bringing up numerous disciplinary actions taken against him by his former employers, the Florence Police Department and Boone County Sheriff’s Department.

McVay at first portrayed his relationship with Tally Smith as platonic.

“Friends, we were just friends,” McVay said.

Dennison, anger rising in her voice, reminded McVay he was under oath and asked him again if he was denying a sexual relationship.

“Is it any of your business?” McVay said, glaring at Dennison from the stand.

Dennison asked him again and again reminding him of his oath. McVay then said “yes” in a quiet, resigned manner.

Emails between McVay and Tally Smith under pseudonyms became more evidence for the defense. McVay, using the name Carter Davidson, and Tally Smith, using the name Chiquita Queen, would exchange private emails, Dennison said.

Dennison read one of these emails in court. An email from Carter Davidson to Chiquita Queen outlined why detectives didn’t tell the prosecutor about an interview with a truck driver from Texas whom authorities identified as the man in the video. Dooley’s defense team disputes this identification based on the truck driver appearing much larger than the man in the video. Also, the truck driver, Alvin Reynolds, testified earlier in the week he never left his truck.

McVay, as Carter Davidson, wrote he didn’t tell Tally Smith about Reynolds because she appeared stressed. That’s according to Dooley’s defense attorney who read the email in court

“We are confident in the follow-up interview with the drive by phone who it was,” the email, as read by Dennison, stated. “My partner discussed it. We made a choice to not say anything at the time, cause we could see the stress the case was causing. If the choice to not say anything makes me a liar, then I guess I’m a liar.”

The special prosecutors from the Office of the Attorney General, who have taken over the case, declined to cross-examine McVay.

McVay's attorney, Ben Dusing, after the testimony said his client did not withhold evidence and did nothing wrong in the investigation. He said it will become clearer when Tally Smith testifies, something that's expected to occur in the next day. Dusing said the affair began after the Dooley trial concluded in September 2014.

"Until then, it's just a couple drips of information that have no connectedness," Dusing said. "But Linda will tie everything together. Bruce is in a tough spot. He's a 30-year veteran, served the community, well-regarded, highly respected law enforcement officer. He made a mistake and has always owned that."

Carter Davidson and Chiquita Queen, that is hilarious!

[theguru]

If you think you are having a bad day, just think of McVay...his day today has been much worse...

 

Bruce (McVay) isn't having a bad day, he has 30 years of Law Enforcement under his belt and probably collects a solid 5K a month from the State retirement system.