Additional details emerge in Internet-threat case

By KENNETH HART
The Independent

GRAYSON June 10, 2009 10:31 pm

— Kentucky State Police have released a few additional details about Tuesday’s arrests of two Carter County residents for allegedly threatening a judge via the Internet.
David S. Justice, 62, and Kelly Hall, 31, both of Grayson, were charged with intimidating a participant in a legal process, a Class D felony that carries a one-to-five-year prison sentence. Both were lodged in the Carter County Detention Center.
The KSP said it was notified last week by Carter Commonwealth’s Attorney David Flatt of comments posted on the Web site Topix.com.
The comments were “intimidating in nature” and were directed toward Carter District Judge Rupert Wilhoit, according to a news release from the KSP’s Ashland post.
Topix is a news aggregator Web site that categorizes news stories — including those published by The Independent — by topic and by geography. Users can search for stories from their local communities by typing in a ZIP code.
The site also features a popular forum system that allows users to comment on news stories and the various happenings in communities.
Detective Mike Murriell, a spokesman for the Ashland post, said Wednesday the comments allegedly posted by Justice and Hall had been removed from Topix. He also said the KSP was not releasing additional information about the postings because they were part of the ongoing investigation.
The case is being jointly investigated by Detective Jim Goble and the KSP’s Electronic Crimes Branch. The division provides forensic-based computer examination and technical assistance in electronic crime investigations to the various branches and posts of the KSP and to other law-enforcement agencies.
The branch has five sworn detectives, three of whom are assigned to investigate Internet-based crimes. The branch also oversees the state’s Internet Crimes Against Children section.
KENNETH HART can be reached at khart@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2654.