Lora Leeanne Wooten is loaded into an ambulance after she crashed off the Trenton town square Aug. 7 after a high-speed police chase during which Maj. Tommy Bradford lost a leg. Her case will be called Thursday preparatory to the January term in Dade Superior.
Calendar call is Thursday morning, Jan. 10, for a rare January criminal trail term in Dade Superior Court. Trials start the following Monday, Jan. 14.
Dade usually holds jury trials only in April and October. But Lookout Judicial Circuit Public Defender David Dunn had warned the Dade County Commission at its December meeting, when he presented his office's indigent defense contract for its yearly renewal, that business was up in the county crime scene, and the court docket for Thursday bore him out: There are no fewer than 93 cases to be heard during the January session.
Predictably, most of the cases are for drug charges, with a disproportionate emphasis on methamphetamine. But these are punctuated with some vehicular, assault, theft and burglary charges. A man and a woman are slated to stand trial jointly for statutory rape and child molestation. And a couple of high-profile cases that made big headlines in Dade County during 2018 will surface one way or another.
Notably, Lora Leeanne Wooten, the 35-year-old Alabama woman who led police in a high-speed, two-state chase on Aug. 7 that crash-ended just off the Trenton town square, and that deprived Dade Sheriff's Office second-in-command Tommy Bradford of one leg below the knee, is scheduled for trial on the 14th. Lead attorney for her defense will be Dunn himself, who will be assisted by Jennifer Hartline, the defender's office attorney who usually handles Dade cases. But whether Ms. Wooten, who faces 19 separate charges--everything from aggravated assault to faulty tires--can really be tried as quickly as next week Dunn would not say, only confirming the calendar call.
Ms. Wooten remains in the Walker County jail pending her trial.
Another case that made splashy 2018 headlines was that of Amanda Pardue, a young Dade substitute teacher--she was also 35 at her arrest in September--accused of "obscene internet contact with a child" among other computer-sex-minors charges. Ms. Pardue's case will also come up for calendar call on Thursday for possible trial next week.
She has been free on bond since she was arrested on Sept. 21 after an investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation requested by the Trenton Police Department. The GBI released little information on the Pardue case but the charges seemed to send from accusations the teacher shared inappropriate pictures and texts with underage boys.
The Planet will faithfully share with its readers any developments from either of these cases.
Comments