(LEX 18) — At a court hearing Thursday, special Judge Eddy Coleman heard arguments from a prosecutor and defense attorney on a bond reduction requested by the man accused in the stabbing death of a woman in Floyd County.
Amber Spradlin, 38, was found dead in the home of prominent Prestonsburg dentist Michael McKinney II on June 18, 2023. Investigators would later release that she’d been stabbed 12 times in the head, neck and torso.
More than a year later, police charged McKinney’s son, Michael “MK” McKinney III, with murder and multiple counts of evidence tampering in the case.
Michael McKinney II and a family friend, Josh Mullins, were also charged with multiple counts of complicity to tampering with evidence.
Up for discussion Thursday were three motions by MK McKinney’s attorneys. His attorneys were asking for a bond reduction, for additional discovery and for prosecutors to produce polygraph results in the case.
The attorneys and prosecutors in the case had already come to an agreement on the motions for additional discovery and the polygraph evidence before Thursday’s hearing, leaving only the bond motion to be decided.
Judge Coleman said at the end of Thursday’s hearing that he would take the arguments under advisement and release an order with his decision, potentially by the end of the week.
Bond reduction request
In MK McKinney’s motion to lower his bond, his attorneys outlined evidence they indicated would tie Roy Kidd – who has not been charged with anything– rather than McKinney to Spradlin’s death.
His attorneys argue that MK McKinney was out of custody without incident for 13 months after Spradlin’s death before being charged, and that his lack of a criminal record shows he’s not a public safety risk or a flight risk.
“For over a year the intensity of the rumor mill and ‘Trial by Facebook’ increased, and pressure on public officials to hold someone responsible for Amber’s death mounted into a fever pitch,” his attorneys wrote in the motion. “Through all this, the Defendant continued to stay in Floyd County when not at Morehead. Even as billboards on public highways called for prosecutorial action, and members of the community passionately blamed the Defendant, he continued to stay with his family in Floyd County. Michael McKinney III has never shown any intention to abscond, nor would he even be able to do so.”
One of MK McKinney’s attorneys, Steven Romines, said at Thursday's hearing that legally his client should be allowed to be released on bond. He mentioned that the processing of evidence in the case could take years. He also cited MK McKinney’s lack of a prior criminal record.
Argument against bond reduction
In their filed response arguing against MK McKinney’s bond being lowered, prosecutors said that the evidence “strongly implicates” him. They went on to say that he is “mentally unstable and a danger to the community,” and therefore asked that the court not lower his bond.
Prosecutors’ response to the motion also outlined evidence not previously released to the public, including an explanation of DNA evidence in the case.
Investigators were able to link DNA found under Spradlin’s fingernails to either MK McKinney, his father or any of their “paternal relatives,” according to the response filed.
Prosecutors stressed in the response that the DNA evidence did not match Josh Mullins or Roy Kidd, the other men allegedly in the home that night.
Prosecutors also wrote that when MK McKinney was photographed by police three days after Spradlin’s death, he had “numerous suspicious scratches to both forearms.”
During Thursday’s hearing, Romines argued that witnesses had said MK McKinney had the scratches on his arms before Spradlin’s death. One of those witnesses was Roy Kidd, Romines said.
Also in their response, prosecutors noted that instead of calling 9-1-1 after finding Spradlin dead, Michael McKinney II made an 8-minute call to then Prestonsburg City Police Chief Randy Woods. When police talked to Woods about the call "Woods would only say that he told Defendant McKinney to call 911," according to the response.
Prosecutors also noted two cameras that were allegedly missing from the home after Spradlin’s death.
Both a long-time housekeeper and a woman who was staying at the home at the time told investigators that there’d generally been a camera on the mantle in the living room aimed at the couch where the murder is believed to have occurred. Both it and a camera that was usually in the basement were gone when the investigation into Spradlin’s death began, according to prosecutors.
Polygraph results request
McKinney’s attorney’s requested that prosecutors turn over the results of a polygraph exam done on Roy Kidd.
They again outlined evidence in the case related to Kidd, including the fact he was the one to find Spradlin’s body and allegations of Kidd’s “violent and out of control behavior” earlier on the morning of Spradlin's death.
In response to the motion, prosecutors wrote that Kidd passed the polygraph exam on the question of whether he “stabbed, or cut, Amber Spradlin,” but that the results would not be admissible at trial. Still, the prosecutors wrote that they would provide the results to the defense.
Additional discovery request
Among the additional discovery McKinney’s attorneys were requesting were multiple witness interviews and phone evidence from Amber Spradlin, Roy Kidd and others.
In response to the motion, the prosecutors wrote that they are working on a second round of discovery and requested 30 days to provide it.
