Published: May 15, 2009 10:31 pm      

Sparks fly in criminal abuse pretrial hearing

Attorneys were “burning the midnight oil” Thursday in Madison Circuit Court discussing a number of issues relating to discovery in the case of a couple charged with first-degree criminal abuse.

Jeremiah Blair, 22, and his wife, Jessica Blair, are charged in connection with a January 2008 incident in which Jeremiah Blair’s 2-year-old daughter was taken to St. Joseph-Berea hospital by her mother with bruising under her neck.

The child had spent an overnight visit with the Blairs prior to the hospital visit.

Jessica Blair’s attorney, Brenda Popplewell of Somerset, had filed a number of motions seeking video and audio recordings made by Richmond Police Department Det. Eric Long while investigating the case after she believed Commonwealth’s Attorney David Smith had not provided them all as required by law.

Long was called to testify about the confusion surrounding the number of recordings that exist, including a blank 8mm videotape which had accidentally been logged into evidence.

The tape, one of several spares Long normally carries with his video camera, was logged into evidence instead of the tape containing interviews and other recordings made at police headquarters, he testified.

That tape was subsequently logged into evidence, but the blank tape was not removed to prevent allegations of impropriety, Long testified.

Popplewell also sparred with prosecutors over photographs of the child taken before and after the abuse that were provided by the child’s aunt. Several of the photos have people in them that police have not been able to identify, and Popplewell is seeking to have Madison Circuit Judge Jean C. Logue require police to identify those people.

Popplewell also is seeking information on the time and location the photos were taken to establish a timeline for the case.

The biggest disagreement was over Popplewell’s request that prosecutors be forced to investigate a trio of witnesses, including the child’s mother, for possible psychological or drug abuse problems by researching their criminal histories and speaking with social services and other state agencies.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jennifer Smith repeatedly objected to Popplewell’s request, claiming that Popplewell was attempting to force prosecutors to not only provide discovery but to investigate a defense for Jessica Blair.

Logue took several of the issues under advisement and gave each side two weeks to file briefs in support of their position.

Prosecutors did agree to allow Popplewell and Jeremiah Blair’s attorney, Jimmy Dale Williams, to examine the case files for any material which has not been provided.

A new pretrial conference is set for Aug. 6.



Brian Smith may be reached at bsmith@richmondregister.com or at 624-6694.