LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — 39-year-old Ronald Smith appeared for a pretrial hearing. Smith is charged with a DUI but could face additional charges because the other driver was killed.
Smith is charged with driving under the influence of alcohol in an incident that led to the death of the other driver, 54-year-old Billy Williamson Jr., who was also a long-time LEX 18 employee.
Smith is also facing charges for failure to maintain insurance, and driving with expired plates. Friday morning, his attorney asked the judge to consider releasing him to an outpatient program. Judge Melissa Moore Murphy denied it based on pending charges that may be added.
She said, "You know, and we know that there are those pending charges...ones that are reckless homicide or something to that extent. Potentially, I don’t know that there's an ongoing investigation."
Smith's attorney continued asking for bond relief, citing Smith's community ties. She said, "These are only allegations, this is a misdemeanor, and he has support in the community. He has a daughter; he works for UK.... I believe in this case it would be appropriate for electronic monitoring. I mean this is a, still a misdemeanor."
Murphy said, "There are still the allegations, a death has occurred. And at the time, based on the allegations, blew a 0.25. So, I am going to keep the bond at $5,000 full cash. If he posts that bond, then there is also electronic monitoring already in place and there should be no driving."
Police are still investigating the incident and say it could take at least another month.
"Based on the seriousness of the allegations presented to me, as I know them to be, I believe that $5,000 is appropriate at this time,” said Murphy.
The pretrial hearing was continued to June 14.
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