The trial for a man charged in connection with a deadly crash last year on Lovers Lane is a month away, though there are some issues to be settled in court ahead of the trial date.

Ryan Bagwell, 32, of White House, Tennessee, is under indictment on charges of murder, operating a motor vehicle while under the influence (fourth offense or greater), first-degree criminal mischief, tampering with physical evidence, two counts of first-degree trafficking in a controlled substance, second-degree trafficking in a controlled substance, third-degree trafficking in a controlled substance, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Bagwell is alleged to have been impaired while driving a truck on Lovers Lane that crashed into a car driven by Ashley C. Porter that was traveling in the opposite direction on July 24, 2024.

Porter, 40, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Bagwell, who has remained in Warren County Regional Jail since his arrest last year, is scheduled to face a jury trial beginning Jan. 20 in Warren Circuit Court.

His attorney, Alan Simpson, has filed a motion to sever the drug charges so that they may be tried separately from the murder and DUI counts.

Simpson has argued, both in paperwork and court hearings, that the drug charges do not bear on whether Bagwell is guilty or not guilty of murder and DUI, and trying all the charges together would unduly prejudice Bagwell.

“It’s our position that the testimony about drug trafficking, tampering with physical evidence and possession of marijuana have nothing to do with the most serious charges in this case,” Simpson said during a Dec. 15 hearing before Warren Circuit Judge John Grise.

In addition to asking for the drug charges to be severed from the rest of the case, Simpson’s motion asks for the court to require the prosecution to choose which charges to try first.

Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Kori Beck Bumgarner said during that same hearing that the trafficking charges were intertwined with the murder and DUI counts because tests of Bagwell’s blood taken soon after the crash showed the presence of methamphetamine, hydrocodone, marijuana and oxycodone.

Simpson has asked in a second motion for the court to disallow the use of Bagwell’s most recent DUI conviction, obtained in Tennessee in 2020, against him at the upcoming trial.

If granted, the DUI charge against Bagwell in the Lovers Lane case would be considered his third offense, making it a misdemeanor charge instead of a felony and reducing the potential penalties against him.

Simpson said that, while there is filed paperwork in the Tennessee case indicating that he pleaded guilty, there is no audio or video recording of court proceedings there to show whether Bagwell entered his plea voluntarily and intelligently.

In a filing supporting his motion, Simpson cites a U.S. Supreme Court decision that holds that a guilty plea involves a defendant waiving his right to avoid self-incrimination, his right to a trial and his right to confront his accusers.

“The court emphasized that such waivers cannot be presumed from a silent record and that trial courts must make an affirmative showing on the record that the defendant understands the rights being waived and the consequences of the plea,” Simpson said in a memorandum filed in the case Tuesday.

Bumgarner said in court that she would file a response to that motion ahead of a hearing on both of Simpson’s motions, which has been set for Jan. 13.