A person of interest in the 2020 death and arson of Trigg County’s Thelma “Ileen” Barnett and her Will Jackson Road home, Allison Hunter was back in court Wednesday morning — a trial date and possible mediation now on the table.
Charged with complicity to first-degree burglary and violations of release conditions, neither option had really been a possibility for Hunter.
According to Commonwealth’s Attorney Carrie Ovey-Wiggins, things have changed.
Ovey-Wiggins noted that she remains unopposed to mediation, but a trial date creates a better timeline of expectation. She and Ellingsworth both said a trial would last about three days.
Judge Jamus Redd said it needed to happen in July or August, and set for proceedings to begin with jury selection at 1 PM July 14.
The next pre-trial conference was set for 9 AM May 14, and mediation could occur either March 28 or in April.
Late last year, Hunter was considered “paramount testimony” in what was a vacated February trial for Keisha Stewart and Jonathan McCoy. After skipping town, she was named a Christian County “Fugitive of the Week” before being located in, and extradited from, Pikeville in Pike County.
