Former Jailer's Perjury Trial Delayed

The perjury trial of former McCracken County Jailer Tonya Ray was scheduled to start on Thursday, but it's been delayed because both attorneys needs to see statements made by a police officer to a Grand Jury. 

The case against Ray stemmed from statements she made during a hearing in October 2017. She reportedly testified that the jail did not have a procedure manual that outlined proper inmate classification procedures, which allowed former employee Ben Green to move some inmates from protective custody to general population, and some of them were injured in fights. Police say a more recent procedure manual they found reveals that Ray made false statements under oath. 

Ray's attorney, Thomas Clay, says a State Police detective testified at two different hearings related to the indictment of Green on multiple counts of official misconduct, but Rick Boling, the newly-elected Christian County Commonwealth's Attorney who took over as special prosecutor in Ray's case, didn't know about the detective's testimony in Green's case. Clay said the omission was nobody's fault, but he felt those statements could be relevant his client's defense.

Clay said, "So, when I asked for those statements and they weren't produced before trial, then I thought it was appropriate - and he agreed - that we needed to continue the case to have those Grand Jury testimony transcripts produced so we that could comply with the rules of criminal procedure." 

Once this information came to light, Circuit Judge Tim Stark granted the continuance and sent a room full of potential jurors home, since they weren't needed.

Clay said Bolin was working to provide the documents, and he expects a conference call to take place in mid-August to set another trial date. 

Green's case ended in March 2018 when he entered an Alford plea to 16 counts of misconduct. He paid court costs and a $50 fine for each count.