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System lags in 1982 Kellams murder
[April 30, 2010]

System lags in 1982 Kellams murder


Apr 30, 2010 (Messenger-Inquirer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A man charged with murder in the 1982 homicide of an Owensboro woman will likely not go to trial soon in Daviess County.

James Ray Cable, who was indicted in 2004 for the 1982 sexual assault and killing of Sandra Gail Kellams, is also facing two homicide trials in Jefferson County. Cable, 61, will be tried in Jefferson County before going to trial on the Daviess County charge.



"From our end, I want Mr. Cable focusing on one case at a time," said David Farley, who was appointed to handle the Daviess County case. Attorneys for the Department of Public Advocacy are representing Cable because he is currently in state prison for convictions of sodomy and kidnapping.

Kellams was killed on June. 8, 1982, her 18th birthday. In 2003, Owensboro police detectives received a tip that led them to re-examine the case. Although the initial tip was not correct, the investigation eventually led detectives to Cable, who provided a DNA sample from prison. Test results indicated Cable's sample matched evidence collected from Kellams' crime scene.


Cable has a long criminal history stemming back to 1971, when he was convicted of rape of a child under the age of 12. Cable was also charged with escape in 1972 and manslaughter in 1977.

In the 1990 case, Cable was convicted of participating in the kidnapping and sexual assault of a 15 year-old girl. A diary kept by Cable's accomplice, Phillip Clopton, said he and Cable had killed and dismembered two other girls.

Ken Nall, first assistant commonwealth's attorney for the Daviess County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, said Cable is already serving up to 300 years in state prison.

Cable is facing murder charges in Louisville for the 1986 death of Oma Marie Bird and the 1989 death of Helen V. Booth. Nall said Cable is currently undergoing a competency evaluation at the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center in LaGrange.

Steve Tedder, communications director for the Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney's Office, said a competency hearing will be held in Jefferson Circuit Court on June 10.

"A standard KCPC hearing is to determine if the defendant was competent at the time of the offense," if he understood the nature of his actions and if he is competent to stand trial now, Nall said. Part of the evaluation includes a review of Cable's physical and mental history and evidence provided by the prosecution, Nall said.

The results of the competency hearing and court actions in Jefferson County will affect the Daviess County case, Farley said. It is atypical for a case to go six years between an indictment and a trial, Farley said.

"Is it unusual? Yes, but this is not a usual case," he said. "Louisville has (Cable) on two murders ... so things they do there will affect how we proceed here." The Jefferson County trials will proceed first because "they are further ahead in the process," Farley said.

If Cable is ruled competent, the trials will proceed without mention of one another, unless prosecutors can show the crimes were connected, Nall said.

"It would obviously be highly prejudicial to the jury" to talk during Cable's trial about future trials he's facing, Nall said. Murder charges generally take longer to go to trial than other criminal cases, and Cable's cases require preparation by both sides, Nall said.

In Cable's case, the competency evaluation takes at least 30 days, but prosecutors also have to locate witnesses for a crime that happened, in Kellams' case, almost 30 years ago.

The Daviess County charge will wait until Jefferson County tries its cases against Cable, Nall said.

"We're in the proverbial hurry up and wait aspect," Nall said. "That's why we keep setting (hearings) a few months down the road -- so we don't forget about it and don't lose touch with it." Farley said he does not expect the Daviess County charge against Cable to go to trial in the coming months.

"I wouldn't expect it to happen this year," Farley said.

James Mayse, 691-7303, [email protected] To see more of the Messenger-Inquirer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.messenger-inquirer.com. Copyright (c) 2010, Messenger-Inquirer, Owensboro, Ky. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

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