The Breckinridge County sheriff was in court on Friday to enter a plea on five felony charges.
Sheriff Todd Pate was indicted on April 18 on felony charges related to a DUI wreck he had on March 8 in the 9400 block of Hwy 259 near McDaniels. Pate was indicted in April on four counts of felony wanton endangerment, tampering with physical evidence (a felony) and his second DUI (aggravating circumstances).
Pate pled not guilty to the charges.
A special prosecutor, Blake Chambers, of Morgantown, has been appointed to handle the case. Special Judge Janet Crocker (Chief Circuit Judge for the 49th Judicial Circuit, serving Allen and Simpson Counties) set Pate’s bond at $10,000 (unsecured), and put in place stipulations for Pate to follow while he’s out of jail on bond, including no use or possession of alcohol, no possession of a firearm, no new arrests or violations of the law, and no contact with victim in the case. He will also be subjected to pre-trial monitoring. Pate’s driver’s license remains suspended.
During the hearing, Pate said that he has attended Alcoholics Anonymous meetings on a weekly basis since he left a Tennessee treatment facility in April. Crocker ruled that Pate must continue to attend the weekly meetings.
Kentucky State Police said the preliminary investigation into Pate’s accident revealed that the sheriff was driving his personal vehicle, a 2018 Chevrolet pickup truck, when he struck a 2007 Mercury Grand Marquis, being driven by Jill Lanning, of Leitchfield. After striking Lanning’s vehicle, Pate’s truck struck a utility pole before coming to rest in a barbwire fence.
Lanning was transported to Breckinridge County Memorial Hospital for treatment of non-life threatening injuries and later released.
Pate was arrested on suspicion of DUI by Trooper Joey Beasley and lodged in the Hardin County Detention Center.
In Pate’s arrest citation, Beasley states that upon making contact with Pate, the sheriff exuded a “strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his person, blood shot eyes, slurred speech and (was) unsteady on his feet.” Beasley also wrote in the citation that he asked Pate to “lean against the rear” of his cruiser “so he would not fall into traffic.”
The citation says that Pate consented to a “breath test,” and recorded a .159, nearly twice the legal limit of .08.
Witnesses at the scene, in reporting the accident to Breckinridge County Dispatch, said that Pate was “hiding beer bottles in a nearby wooded area,” after the wreck, according to the citation. When Beasley arrived on scene, he found Pate “standing above his truck in a wooded area.”
Pate’s first DUI arrest came in October 2015 in Bowling Green after he was found intoxicated and behind the wheel of a vehicle in the parking lot of a Waffle House. Police had been looking for Pate after his wife swore out a warrant against him for threatening to kill her and her parents. He was charged with terroristic threatening and DUI among other counts. He later pled guilty to the DUI charge.
Pate is due back on court on August 2, 2019.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com or 270-259-6000
