The Calvert City garbage truck driver accused in March of driving under the influence of drugs in the wrong lanes of Interstate 24 pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Tuesday in Marshall County Circuit Court.
Dalton Lampley, 24, of Calvert City, was scheduled to appear Oct. 26 in his first status hearing in Marshall County.
Lampley stands accused of first-degree fleeing and evading in a motor vehicle, aggravated DUI, wanton endangerment of a police officer, first-degree possession of methamphetamine, possession of paraphernalia, second-degree criminal mischief, disregarding a stop sign, reckless driving, resisting arrest, failure to produce license and criminal littering. Charges stem from an incident in March, during which police say Lampley drove a Waste Path garbage truck the wrong way down I-24 beginning near Paducah and leading police on a pursuit into Marshall County. The chase reportedly ended when officers deployed spike strips on U.S. Highway 62 in Calvert City, deflating tires on the vehicle and causing the driver to strike a guard rail.
Lampley faces assault charges related to the incident in McCracken County. He was indicted in both counties in June.
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Trial date set in Walker case
A Marshall County woman accused of firing shots at ATV and UTV riders on her property earlier this year is set to go to trial.
Marshall County Circuit Court Judge Jamie Jameson set trial to begin Dec. 4 in the case against Bonita Walker, 56, of Fairdealing, officially setting aside an Alford plea she entered in May through her attorney Mark Ashburn. A defendant may choose to make an Alford plea if he or she does not admit to any wrongdoing, but recognizes that the state can present enough evidence to result in a conviction and agrees to be treated as guilty. She would have faced a five-year sentence, with the first three diverted provided she met conditions imposed by the court, which included that she not own or possess a firearm of any sort. Complicity would have allowed Walker to have the matter expunged from her record at a point to be determined after that three-year probationary period. Any infraction within that time frame could have resulted in a five-year prison term.
However, Walker expressed her intent to withdraw that plea June 29 during a scheduled sentencing hearing in Marshall County Circuit Court. Walker cited the findings of her own independent investigation as motivation to set aside her plea; she appeared June 29 without her attorney present.
Jameson told Walker during that hearing that he’d determined he would not accept her plea at that time, anyway.
Walker was arrested Feb. 19 on wanton endangerment and criminal mischief charges after allegedly firing shots as ATV and UTV riders who police said had inadvertantly crossed onto her property on Salem Chapel Road. Walker did not give consent for riders to enter her property and had on several prior occasions reported to the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department problems with riders trespassing.