BURLINGTON, Ky. -- A judge will decide whether the man convicted of murdering coworker Michelle Mockbee will get a new trial in Boone County.
Both sides submitted final written reports to the court within the past 24 hours explaining why they think David Dooley should or shouldn't get another shot to prove his innocence.
A jury found Dooley guilty in 2014 of killing Mockbee, his co-worker, at the Thermo Fisher Scientific warehouse in Florence where they worked in 2012.
In order to get a new trial, Dooley's defense team needs to have shown that Commonwealth's Attorney Linda Tally-Smith withheld evidence that could have changed the outcome of the trial.
I-Team: Video tape, text messages, secret affair threaten conviction in NKY murder case
The Kentucky Attorney General's Office wrote in its final brief that the evidence presented in a week-long hearing in April didn't prove that a new trial was needed.
One key issue is the surveillance video showing an unknown man -- referred to as the "random due" in court records -- approach the building the day before Mockbee's murder. The commonwealth wrote that the defense did receive a copy of it and did not object when a detective mentioned the video while testifying during the trial.
Officials also wrote that the video wouldn't have changed the way the defense presented its case.
Defense lawyers disagreed. They wrote that the video was withheld and Dooley was stripped of his right to a fair trial.
The defense also heavily relies on text messages and emails Tally-Smith and lead detective Bruce McVay wrote to each other after Dooley's trial, when they admitted to having an affair. Some of the messages discuss when McVay told Tally-Smith about the surveillance video.
The messages "erode confidence in the integrity of the verdict in this case, and in the institutions of justice in Boone County," defense attorneys wrote.
It wasn't immediately clear how long the judge would take to make a decision on about Dooley's request for a retrial.
Read the full briefs below:
Commonwealth's Brief by WCPO Web Team on Scribd
Defense Brief by WCPO Web Team on Scribd
