Prisoner accused of threatening Tapp, Montgomery

Local News

April 14, 2009

By HEATHER PYLES, CJ Staff Writer The Commonwealth Journal Tue Apr 14, 2009, 09:18 PM EDT

Somerset — A man currently serving prison time for the 2002 murder of a Pulaski County man was indicted by a grand jury this month on additional charges.

Claude R. Cox, Jr., 42, currently housed in the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville for the January 2002 murder of then-68-year-old Kenneth Hallock, was indicted by a Pulaski County Grand Jury last week on two counts of retaliating against a participant in the legal process, a class D felony, third-degree terroristic threatening, a class A misdemeanor and persistent felony offender.

The indictment reports that Cox allegedly wrote a threatening letter to Pulaski Circuit Judge David A. Tapp on December 19, 2008 in which he “knowingly threatened to engage in conduct causing bodily injury to a person ...”

The letter also contained threats against Commonwealth’s Attorney Eddy F. Montgomery.

Tom Marshall with the Kentucky Attorney General’s office, who is prosecuting the case, said Cox didn’t stop there.

“Threats were made in the letter to Judge Tapp, to the Commonwealth’s Attorney (Montgomery), to the governor (Steve Beshear), to the new president of the United States (President Barack Obama) and actually to other judges in the county,” Marshall said.

According to the indictment, Cox committed third-degree terroristic threatening when he “knowingly threatened to kill another person, to wit: Hon. Steve Beshear.”

According to earlier articles published in the Commonwealth Journal, the letter sent in December wasn’t the first threatening piece of mail Cox had sent to a public official.

Cox wrote a threatening letter to former District Court Judge Walter Maguire, who oversaw his case in 2002. He was indicted on that charge and later sentenced to an additional 18 months in prison.

Marshall said a hearing date has not been scheduled, and he said he’s uncertain whether Pulaski Circuit Judge Jeffrey T. Burdette will ask for a special judge in the case.

Cox is currently serving a 15-year sentence after he pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in connection with Hallock’s death. That case began on the morning of Jan. 12 2002 when Cox asked law enforcement to check on Hallock at his apartment on West Columbia Street in Somerset.

Cox said he had been to Hallock’s apartment and found the glass broken out of the front door.

When police arrived at the apartment, they found Hallock dead on his living room floor. An autopsy performed on Hallock revealed that “the cause of death was suffocation due to constriction of the neck by blunt objects” and the death was deemed a homicide.

Two days later, after Cox admitted to several people that he had strangled Hallock to death, he was charged with his murder.

In a statement to police, Cox said he had gotten into an argument with Hallock on the night of his murder. He said that when Hallock accused him of being a child molester, he became upset and couldn’t take it anymore, and that that was when he strangled Hallock.

During his guilty plea Cox claimed he was under extreme emotional duress at the time of the murder.

Cox had previously served prison time for a 1986 second-degree arson conviction in Franklin County.

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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