GLASGOW — Two months before a scheduled trial, a judge Friday dismissed murder charges against a Barren County woman and her daughter, with the special prosecutor informing the court that information he recently received in the case contradicts his main argument.

Special prosecutor Blake Chambers had filed a motion on Wednesday to dismiss the case against Donna Logsdon, 73, and Cheryl Leighanne Bennett, 48, both of Glasgow.

The two women were charged with murder in connection with the death of Logsdon’s husband and Bennett’s father, Michael Logsdon, 75, who died July 9, 2022, in his Glasgow home.

Michael Logsdon’s death was investigated by the Glasgow Police Department, and a grand jury indicted Bennett and Donna Logsdon based on allegations that they tampered with the bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPap) machine that Michael Logsdon, who had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, used as a breathing aid.

As the case progressed, the machine underwent functionality testing and authorities recovered usage data from the machine that was then interpreted by officials from ResMed, the company that manufactured the machine.

Chambers’ motion to dismiss said that efforts to have ResMed officials interpret records from the machine and have an expert witness available for trial led to a May 5 meeting with two ResMed employees who requested a copy of the SD card from the machine so that the company could use its software to interpret the data on it.

On May 13, Chambers learned during a phone call with ResMed attorneys that it would be the company’s position that the contents of the SD card indicated that the device remained powered on and transmitting data during the time period of July 8-9, 2022.

This information contradicted records of machine usage from Gould’s Medical/Adapthealth, which prescribed the machine to Michael Logsdon, and upon which authorities relied to allege that the machine had been tampered with and that a murder had occurred.

“The indictment alleges the machine was ‘turned off,’ causing the death of the victim,” Chambers said in his motion to dismiss. “The Commonwealth now has been provided information from ResMed contrary to that allegation, and thus feels this action is no longer supported by probable cause at this time on the theory that the death was caused by an individual powering off the device.”

Barren Circuit Judge John Alexander granted the motion to dismiss without prejudice, meaning that Chambers could present the case to another grand jury should new evidence emerge.

Chambers requested the dismissal without prejudice, saying that he would provide written notice to attorneys for Bennett and Donna Logsdon that he would present the case to the grand jury based on any new evidence or information.

Bennett’s attorney, John Olash, argued at Friday’s hearing that the case should be dismissed with prejudice, meaning that it cannot be brought back to court and effectively ending all criminal proceedings.

Olash has maintained that police lacked probable cause to bring criminal charges against Bennett in the first place, a position echoed by Donna Logsdon’s defense team of attorneys Rob Eggert and Nick Boggs.

“This (dismissal) is an unexpected development but not a total surprise,” Olash said Friday in court. “There is no expert witness that is going to support the commonwealth’s position that this machine was powered on and off.”

Olash said that when he informed Bennett about Chambers’ motion to dismiss without prejudice, her reaction was to not agree to go forward with it.

Olash said that Bennett would dispute any finding of probable cause supporting criminal charges against her.

“She wants her day in court and she’s entitled to her day in court,” Olash said.

While the murder case has been dismissed, Bennett did not strike a happy tone after court adjourned.

“It’s not a day of celebration for my mother and myself, it’s still a pursuit of justice for me and my work is just beginning as far as that’s concerned,” Bennett said after the hearing. “There needs to be an investigation of the investigation.”

Bennett and Donna Logsdon, along with Lockshield Partners, the financial company that manages a trust created by Michael Logsdon for his family, are defendants in a civil lawsuit brought by Terri Jo Harris, Michael Logsdon’s other surviving daughter and a beneficiary to his trust.

In the suit, filed after Michael Logsdon’s death, Harris sought an injunction against her sister and mother preventing them from accessing funds managed by Lockshield, and the Glasgow Police Department opened an investigation into Michael Logsdon’s death after being contacted by Harris, who reportedly suspected BiPap machine tampering.

The lawsuit is pending in Barren Circuit Court.

In a recent court filing in the criminal case, Olash said that his client’s theory of the case was that Harris “orchestrated this prosecution by misleading (police) with salacious lies about (Bennett) in order to enrich Terri Jo Harris’ inheritance” and that, at its core, the case consisted of a “bevy of allegations of inheritance scheming by rival sisters.”