By JUSTIN STORY

justin.story@bgdailynews.com

GLASGOW — A Barren County woman and her mother received a trial date in a case in which they are accused of causing the death of the mother’s husband.

Cheryl Leighanne Bennett, 47, and Donna Logsdon, 73, both of Glasgow, learned Friday that their murder trial will begin on July 9, three years to the day after the death of 75-year-old Michael Logsdon, who was Bennett’s father and was married to Donna Logsdon.

Michael Logsdon had been diagnosed with the degenerative nerve disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and at the time of his death was bedridden and relied on a breathing aid known as a bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPap) machine.

Donna Logsdon and Bennett are accused of tampering with Michael Logsdon’s BiPap machine, allegedly contributing to his death on July 9, 2022, from what an autopsy termed asphyxia and suffocation.

Barren Circuit Judge John Alexander set the trial date at a pretrial conference on Friday, consulting with Bennett’s attorney, John Olash, and Special Prosecutor Blake Chambers on their availability for a trial in 2025.

“It’s time for us to get the clock ticking, so to speak,” Alexander said.

The judge set aside 10 business days for the trial to be conducted, and scheduled a pretrial conference for Dec. 6.

Donna Logsdon and Bennett are currently free on bond, with Bennett undergoing in-patient addiction treatment at a Georgia rehab facility.

Olash said in court Friday that Bennett hopes to be released from the facility in the next 60-90 days after completing all requirements, and that he would work with her to formulate an “intensive outpatient” plan for her while she awaits trial.

During Friday’s hearing, Alexander acknowledged a handful of motions filed by Olash in the days leading up to the court appearance, but no arguments were taken up on those matters during the hearing.

A motion filed by Olash on Oct. 25 asks the court to direct Chambers to disclose the basis for the removal of four prior prosecutors from the case.

Barren County Commonwealth’s Attorney John Gardner sent an email in 2022 to David Wilson of the Kentucky Attorney General’s Office of Special Prosecutions in which he requested a special prosecutor in the murder investigation.

In the letter, filed with Olash’s motion, Gardner said the defense asserted that Bennett’s sister, Terri Jo Harris, is “pushing charges against Leighanne and her mother for monetary reasons” and that Harris had emailed Gardner on multiple occasions, with Gardner saying that he believes those emails would likely have to be turned over to the defense for including material favorable to their case in the event of the indictment.

The Attorney General’s Office appointed Eric Finke and Jason Rothrock as special prosecutors, and they presented the case to the grand jury in 2023, but were removed from the case later that year.

Kori Beck Bumgarner entered her appearance as special prosecutor in September, 2023, but withdrew from the case four months later, saying that her removal had to do with Harris, according to Olash’s motion.

Chambers was named special prosecutor earlier this year.

Harris was found guilty in September in Barren District Court of harassing communications and was ordered to serve a 90-day jail sentence.

Harris was accused of sending harassing communications over a two-week period in 2023 to Dan Klein, whose firm served as Michael Logsdon’s financial adviser.

A separate motion filed Thursday by Olash asks the court to prevent the prosecution from presenting evidence of a screenshot of time stamp usage graphs related to one of the BiPap machines Logsdon used.

Olash argues that the graph is “irrelevant and inadmissible” unless Chambers can establish the graph was generated by the machine Logsdon used the morning he died.

Another motion from Olash requests the Glasgow Police Department body camera video and chain of custody forms related to the BiPap machine collected on July 14, 2022, as well as pictures of BiPap equipment and a Kentucky State Police lab report related to the machine.