Dunlap competency hearing set for Friday; judge to rule on recusal motion

Above, Kevin Wayne Dunlap in court.-Photo courtesy The Paducah Sun

A judge will decide Friday whether Kevin Wayne Dunlap is competent to stand trial in the murders of three Trigg County siblings and the attempted murder of their mother.
Circuit Judge C.A. Woodall also likely will rule on four defense motions including one that would prevent the jury from seeing “gruesome photographs” of the murder scene.
The hearing is scheduled for 9 a.m. at the Livingston County Justice Center where the case was moved on a change of venue.
Dunlap, 38, is accused in the slashing and stabbing deaths of Kayla Williams, 17, Kortney McBurney-Frensley, 14, and Ethan Frensley, 5. He also is accused of attempting to kill their mother, Kristy Frensley, and setting fire to their Roaring Springs home with them inside.
“The bottom line is (defense attorneys) are asking on behalf of their client to keep his acts from the jury,” said Commonwealth Attorney G.L. Ovey, who was preparing his answers to the motions earlier this week. “... The gruesome nature is not the pictures, it’s what he did.”
Ovey plans to seek the death penalty, and Dunlap’s attorneys have filed their intention to claim a mental illness defense.
Defense attorney James Gibson also has filed motions asking:
 That Woodall to recuse himself because he presided over the divorce of Jeffery and Kristy Frensley and custody of Ethan Frensley.
 That evidence be excluded of a possible stalker or person allegedly watching the Frensley home.
 That Ovey and other members of the prosecution team reveal any relationships, associations of ties with any prospective jurors.
Ovey said his written response will say Gibson’s request that Woodall recuse himself is without merit.
“This motion was not made at the outset of this case,” Ovey said. “This crime happened Oct. 15, 2008, and there have been some 20 motions filed by the defense, and Judge Woodall has ruled on every one of them.”
Ovey said one of the motions was a suppression issue in which Woodall “ruled in favor of the defense.”
“... He calls them like he sees them, and what more can you ask of a judge?” Ovey queried. “Here we are at the 11th hour, we are set to begin trial on Feb. 9 with jury selection. ...We are a week from the final pretrial, and now we are facing an issue of whether or not the judge should continue presiding over a case based upon his involvement in a divorce case. This is a rural area, and a judge, if he is forced to recuse himself in every case that comes about because way back he decided an unrelated case, we’re going to have a hard time maintaining the integrity of our system.”
Regarding the motion for the prosecution to disclose any relationships with jurors, Ovey said he will do that at the right time. He added that he is preparing for trial, and voir dire (questioning of potential jurors) is for disclosure any relationships.
Regarding the person allegedly watching the Frensley home before the killings, Ovey said the Frensleys were aware there had been someone “out back looking at them at night time along the wooded property line.”
“Nobody knows who it was,” he said. “... We found evidence on the ground of a McDonalds wrapper and a cigarette butt, but we never could develop it. To me, that’s another non issue. ... I’m going to ask the court to hold off on ruling on that.”