Published: November 03, 2009 09:46 am      

Attorney asks for new jury in forgery case

By Becky Manley / Staff Writer

The attorney for the former Knox-Whitley Animal Shelter president charged with forgery and theft has asked the entire jury panel be disqualified because the commonwealth’s attorney’s wife and employee are on the randomly selected list of potential jurors.

The motion filed Monday in Whitley Circuit Court also asks the trial for the former president, Debra Wright, 48, be continued.

The trial for Debra Wright and her husband, Frank Wright, 59, both of London, is scheduled to begin today.

The motion states that the presence of Sherry Trimble, wife of Commonwealth’s Attorney Allen Trimble, and Connie Cord, an employee of Allen Trimble’s, have “tainted” the jury panel and made the “selection of an impartial and fair jury impossible.”

Judge Daniel Ballou will hear the motion today.

Debra Wright and Frank Wright were indicted in August 2008.

During her arraignment, Debra Wright pleaded not guilty to second-degree forgery, theft by failure to make required disposition of property over $300 and tampering with physical evidence.

Frank Wright pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree criminal complicity to forgery.

Debra Wright was the president of the shelter board when she allegedly filed for her husband to receive unemployment checks after supposedly losing a job at the shelter, even though he never worked there.

The documents Debra Wright allegedly forged and filed with the Kentucky Department of Employment & Training listed her cell phone as the shelter’s business number, and she signed the document with her maiden name “D.A. Callahan.” Debra allegedly stated on the documents that Frank worked for the shelter for 11 months.

In January 2007, she had allegedly requested that the shelter write a $4,000 check for her husband’s employment costs, though he was only an unpaid volunteer.

Debra Wright was also charged with tampering with physical evidence for allegedly taking records from the shelter after she was asked to resign from the board of directors.

The alleged scam surfaced at a January 2008 Knox-Whitley Animal Shelter board meeting.

At the meeting, Debra Wright claimed that the $4,000 check she asked the shelter to write got mixed up with her personal finances.