The month of December was a very busy one in Logan Circuit Court, despite the fact that several major cases set for trial did not proceed to that stage.

Defense Attorney Mark Hobbs asked for a motion to reset the court date in the malicious wounding case of the State vs. Daniel Faine. Hobbs noted that he is currently handling six major cases (including homicides) in five counties, but he felt the case could be tried in four days, once it starts. Assistant Prosecutor Robert Ilderton said the state objected to the motion and had already subpoenaed witnesses for the trial, and that Faine's victim wanted closure.

Judge Perry agreed to the motion to continue and reappointed attorney Jim Walker as co-council for the defense. A pre-trial date was set for Feb. 25.

Defense Attorney Don Wandling filed a motion to reduce sentence for David Turner who was serving on a DUI involving a death charge. Wandling said Turner had entered a guilty plea for one year in jail on the charge but since Aug. 3 Turner had been on a work release program.

"He is in jail but he is doing routine drug screenings at his place of employment," Wandling said, adding that Turner's original sentence had been amended to allow him on the work release program. Wandling asked for Turner to be placed in an alternative sentencing program such as home confinement or probation. Brian Abraham said the victim's mother Shirley Ellis wished to address the court.

Shirley Ellis said she understood that Turner wished to spend the holidays with his family, but she would have liked to have spent the holidays with her daughter too.

"This is our third Christmas without Rhonda," she said, adding she hoped Turner wouLd never make the same mistake again, and cause another family to lose a child.

Judge Roger Perry said he sentenced Turner to 1-10 in jail but amended that to one year in jail with no probation. Perry said there was no easy answer, but he did not want to allow Turner to walk free once the sentence was served. Perry said he would allow Turner to serve four months on the sentence, but that he wanted probation as Turner needed to be under longterm supervision.

Brian Abraham said the one to ten year prison sentence would still be in effect if Turner violated his probation.

"If he messes up, we will address that," Abraham said.

Cases still set for upcoming trials include: Feb. 11, Brian Dotson - Murder; Feb. 19 - William Brennan - manslaughter; Feb. 25, Amy Gilco -Murder.

In other Logan Circuit Court news: