As the Keyona Bingham trial approaches, Judge C. A. Woodall will be strictly reviewing the possibility of prejudicial evidence available to the jury.
Set for trial on August 24, the Cadiz resident was indicted on two counts of second-degree manslaughter, following the death of her two children in an April 7 house fire on Jefferson Street.
During Wednesday’s pretrial conference, Bingham’s public defender, Mary Rohrer, besought Woodall and the Commonwealth on two motions — both to remove “undue prejudice” based on admitted evidence.
- In the first motion, Rohrer asked Woodall to consider removing images of the children’s body from the court, saying pictures of the deceased “wouldn’t be relevant” to the case.
The Commonwealth’s attorney, Carrie Ovey-Wiggins, vehemently disagreed.
Woodall did agree with Rohrer to a point, but ruled in Ovey-Wiggins’ favor based on a wealth of case precedent. He noted he’d be reviewing the photos — both for an official count, and for their content — before submitting items to the jury, and that it was the Commonwealth’s right to elect their submitted evidence for its case.
- In the second motion, Rohrer asked Woodall to consider any reference to alleged drug use or transactions that could potentially be involved in the case be deemed immaterial, as Bingham is currently not charged with any criminal drug activity in this case, and that any such accusation would go against Bingham’s character.
Ovey-Wiggins disagreed again, stating that the crux of the case comes from Bingham’s alleged negligence on the day of the fire in regards to an illicit drug transfer, as Bingham’s two children died while she was away from the home.
Woodall said he was not prepared to rule in either the Commonwealth’s or the defendant’s favor on the second motion, and another pretrial conference has been scheduled for August 19 at 8:30 a.m.
