GLASGOW — The criminal case against former 7th District Court Judge Sue Carol Browning, who is accused of slashing the tires of a truck parked outside her property, was referred Thursday to a grand jury.

Browning, 60, of Auburn, was arrested Nov. 16 by the Logan County Sheriff’s Office on a felony count of tampering with physical evidence along with two counts of second-degree criminal mischief, two counts of second-degree disorderly conduct, second-degree fleeing or evading police (on foot) and menacing, all misdemeanors.

A former judge who presided over district court in Logan and Todd counties for 20 years, Browning now finds herself a defendant following an incident near Auburn Elementary School on Nov. 16, when the school was hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for parents.

She appeared Thursday over Zoom alongside her attorney, Ami Brooks, for a preliminary hearing that took place in Glasgow and was presided over by Special Judge Gabe Pendleton.

Logan County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Vince Brown, a school resource officer who was at the school that day, testified at a preliminary hearing Thursday that Browning had called the school that morning upset that there were numerous vehicles parked in her lot located near the school outside The Haven, a property Browning owns that is used as a guest house.

Brown said he tried to contact the Auburn Police Department and then got in touch with the dispatch center to have a deputy come to the scene, but then went outside himself to check on things after parents notified school staff that Browning was slashing tires on a vehicle.

Brown testified that he saw Browning holding a knife and moving toward the front driver’s side of a truck parked in the lot.

“I heard a loud puncture noise like a balloon had busted,” Brown said, answering questions from Special Prosecutor John Gardner.

At a certain point, Brown said he told Browning to stop and turn around and he asked her what she was doing.

“She was extremely upset and she had the knife raised over her head in a manner that to me was threatening,” said Brown, who testified over Zoom. “I didn’t know what her intentions were.”

Brown said he unholstered his weapon, which led Browning to lower the knife and stop advancing toward him.

Browning was asked again what she was doing, and she responded she did not have time for this and had a wedding to plan for, after which she walked to her building at what Brown described as a “brisk” pace.

The deputy said he did not feel comfortable following Browning into The Haven and that he was not wearing a body camera, testifying that a camera the department had ordered for him had not yet arrived.

Browning emerged from the building after multiple commands from Brown and was placed under arrest.

Cross-examined by Brooks, Brown testified that he did not know whether the property on which The Haven was situated was considered a residence or a commercial property.

Brown testified that he did not identify himself as a law enforcement officer when he told Browning to stop.

Brooks asked Brown whether Browning indicated she knew the deputy was a law enforcement officer, a question to which Gardner objected.

Brown eventually testified that he was wearing his customary dress as a school resource officer, namely a polo shirt with a white sheriff’s office emblem and a duty belt with a sheriff’s office badge on it.

The deputy testified that he was familiar with Browning from his career in law enforcement and appearing at court proceedings during Browning’s tenure as judge.

“I said ‘do you remember me’ and she stared at me like she had no idea who I was, and I had been to court quite a few times,” Brown said.

Questioned by Brooks whether Browning asked him to cite the owners of the vehicles parked in the lot for trespassing, Brown testified that he saw no signs indicating the lot was private property or warning against trespassing.

Brown said the knife was retrieved from The Haven building after the sheriff’s office obtained a search warrant, with the knife being found in plain sight on the kitchen counter.

The deputy said law enforcement took pictures of the slashed tires, but the tires themselves were not kept as evidence.

Before Pendleton found probable cause to send the case to the grand jury, Brooks argued that the testimony from Thursday’s hearing failed to show that evidence tampering had taken place as defined by Kentucky law, which holds that a person is guilty of the offense when they destroy, conceal, remove or alter evidence while believing that an official proceeding is pending or may be instituted.

“I don’t believe there’s proof that (Browning) believed an official proceeding was pending or was about to be instituted,” Brooks said. “She could have put the knife in several places, but she took it to the kitchen, which is where knives go.”

Gardner argued that Browning showed awareness that Brown was a law enforcement officer when she lowered the knife and stopped walking toward him when Brown unholstered his service weapon and that she emerged from her property without the knife in her possession.

Pendleton said that, based on the testimony, he did not think it was unreasonable to believe that Browning knew the deputy was acting in his capacity as a law enforcement officer at the time.