A morning in Judge Vincent's court

New Boyd County circuit Judge John Vincent addresses an audience after he was sworn into office.

CATLETTSBURG The first Thursday of the month is the busiest for Judge John Vincent, and Thursday was no different.

In the 15 minutes before the Boyd County Circuit Court went into session, the attorneys, defendants and families poured in, filling in the galleries.

Past the bar, attorney Michael “Frenchie” Curtis sucks on hard candy while chewing the fat with defense attorney David Mussetter — they’re talking about where they have to run to after this.

Frenchie puts the miles on his Mercedes. As one of the longest practicing criminal attorney in the local bar, he’s been known to start a day in Morehead and wind up in Pikeville, taking anything, trying state and federal cases.

Mussetter gets around, too — he’s been known to fly down U.S. 23, attempting the magic trick all attorneys wish they could perfect: being two places at once.

Like any Thursday, Bailiff Howard Turner lays down the ground rules for the court hour.

“Silence your cell phones, please no laying on the pews or laying on each other,” he said. “I know people laugh about it, but every Thursday I have to tell someone to sit up.”

Turner is one of several court employees keeping the trains on time at Vincent’s court. In the minutes leading up to the judge popping out of his chambers, Howard scrambles to get the Zoom feed to work, letting attorneys know if something’s been scuttled from the docket at the last minute.

This morning, Assistant Boyd County Commonwealth’s Attorney Kierston Rosen is looking for a lady named Angela. After calling into the gallery a few times, she asks Howard to do it.

“We’re looking for an Angela,” Howard said. “I’m sure there’s fun and prizes awaiting you up here.”

As the minutes dwindle toward 9 a.m., the reason for the stacked docket walks into the courtroom, donning a black suit with a gray shirt and tie.

It’s Assistant County Attorney Pat Hedrick and today is the child support docket — the only felony prosecuted by his office.

It’s a day where folks will be called and they’ll come up to the podium, for Hedrick to see if they’ve been paying their arrearages. Some are doing stellar — it’s just a simple review. Some don’t show up at all — Hedrick asks Vincent for a bench warrant. and some are in jail, usually on a probation violation.

Promptly at 9 a.m., Judge Vincent walks out with his black robe and sits behind the bench. He’s grandfatherly in temperament, quite patient and kind to all in his courtroom.

Some mornings he’s in a joking mood; other mornings not so much. It hasn’t been determined whether or not any of that has to do with the Reds or the Bengals winning, but it would be interesting to track that stat for a correlation.

But one thing is for sure — when it comes to threats to the community, whether it be a sex crime, assault or large-scale drug trafficking, Vincent doesn’t mess around on bond.

Frenchie was just about to leave the courtroom, when Vincent pulls out a file for Mark Hicks, one of two brothers accused of putting a deputy sheriff in a chokehold during a brawl a few weeks ago.

It’s just an arraignment. All they’re doing is entering the case into the system and setting dates, setting bond.

Frenchie said Hicks paid a bond, which the sheriff and the commonwealth’s attorney agreed to. Vincent, however, raised the bond and Hicks obliged when he was told to turn himself in.

“Judge, there was an agreed order and the sheriff himself agreed to it,” Curtis said. “I think $10,000 cash is appropriate here.”

“It’s my understanding he placed a deputy sheriff in a headlock and strangled him,” Vincent said.

“There was no strangulation ...” Frenchie tried to chime in.

“Seventy-five thousand full cash,” Vincent declared, cutting him off.

“I want a bond hearing, that’s a violation of section 10 of the Kentucky constitution,” Frenchie retorted.

While hashing out a bond hearing date — set for Aug. 17 — the judge and the old lawyer traded some arguments back and forth.

“He tried to take down an armed deputy,” Vincent said.

“Well, I think there’s some questions on whether he had the right to be in his house,” Frenchie replied.

Mussetter had the other Hicks brother, Mitchell. Following his arraignment, Mussetter asked for a bond hearing on Aug. 17 as well.

“Judge, I’m not clairvoyant, but I assume your position is the same as on the other case in regards to bond,” Mussetter said.

Vincent said he wasn’t as familiar with the facts on Mitchell’s case, so he wanted to see how the hearing would play out.

The docket chugged along. “Just because you did it doesn’t mean you’re guilty” Sebastian Joy entered an appearance in for two sisters in a fraud case and a sign language interpreter had to call out for a defendant who wasn’t present and got a bench warrant for their troubles.

One woman came to court about her child support case — she presented pay stubs from her employment and had her bench warrant rescinded. However, a warrant in district court was still open, so she was taken into custody.

“Go to the first floor and pay the bond,” she told her dad in the gallery.

Another guy, who’d been making payments on his child support, took out his pay stub and tried to give it to Hedrick.

“Sir, give that to your attorney,” Vincent said.

Then there was the occasional side bar — the static played over the audience to drown out the voices of the attorneys at the bar was louder than usual.

When Mussetter, who had to dip out for a while to handle a case in district court, came back to handle a child porn suspect’s case, the static felt like a 1990s Zenith had blown out during a thunderstorm.

The judge set the suspect’s plea agreement to next week.

“There’s been a glitch, but it should be worked out by next week,” Vincent said.

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