Photo: Christian County Jail
The man accused of the 2002 murder of Chantell Humphries in Trigg County was scheduled to be back in court Wednesday afternoon but the hearing was canceled.
Claude Russell was scheduled to appear Wednesday afternoon during the motion rule day proceedings in Trigg Circuit Court after the Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled on six appeals filed by former Special Prosecutor Tim Coleman in 2016. In an opinion handed down recently by the Court of Appeals, the three-judge panel affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded the case back to Circuit Judge C. A. Woody Woodall, III.
Following a ruling in March 2016, Coleman, who is now a judge, had appealed Judge Woodall’s ruling allowing the mention of Humphries sexual behavior as a defense in a rape indictment against Claude Russell. The Court of Appeals ruled that the evidence of Humphries’ sexual behavior can be used as evidence in the case because it makes the possibility of a not guilty verdict more likely.
The Court of Appeals affirmed Judge Woodall’s decision to allow evidence of Humphries’ drug use to be included in the case as evidence because it shows the victim’s connection to the local drug trade.
The court of appeals is also allowing discussion of an alternate perpetrator in the case because evidence presented by the defense showed that the alternate perpetrator, Lannie Alexander, was not in prison at the time the murder of Chantell Humphries occurred and could have a possible motive to commit the murder.
The Court also ruled on three other appeals involving allowing investigators to share their opinion about Russell’s involvement, whether a hand written note on a receipt can be submitted as evidence and said there was no abuse of discretion by the defense in using heresay statements in the case.
Judge Woodall will now need to make a decision on the 16-year old murder case.
Russell is facing his second indictment in the murder of Chantell Humphries after the first jury was unable to agree on a verdict in 2012. Russell was indicted the second time and charged with the Rape and Murder of Chantell Humphries in June 2002.
