Scott Wartman

swartman@nky.com

An expletive-laced text from a prosecutor to a detective might throw into question the verdict in one of Northern Kentucky's most high-profile murder cases in recent memory - and possibly other cases.

“Now that I know what a complete (expletive) liar you are, I am going to grapple with (expletive) ethical issues with every case in which you are involved,” Boone County Prosecutor Linda Tally Smith texted to the lead detective for the Boone County Sheriff.

This revelation could upend the murder conviction of David Dooley in one of Northern Kentucky's most high-profile murder cases in recent memory. And the repercussions could be wider from the complicated tale that has slowly unfurled involving a prosecutor, a sitting judge, a detective and a fired law clerk.

Boone Co. detective in Dooley trial faces scrutiny

The target of the text was Boone County Sheriff's Det. Bruce McVay. As a detective for 15 years in Boone County, he handled hundreds of investigations.

No one has come forward publicly questioning McVay's work in other cases.

The text message was revealed as part of a lawsuit Boone County Commonwealth's Attorney Linda Tally Smith and her husband, District Judge Jeff Smith, filed to retrieve information downloaded from her office servers.

What's on the thumb drive?

The text message in the court document reveals what might be the first hint at what's behind this tangled story.

Smith's attorney claimed the text message was taken out of context. Exactly what that context is, however, he wouldn't say.

Dooley hopes it will lead to a second trial. He's serving a life sentence for the 2012 murder of Michelle Mockbee of Fort Mitchell.

McVay was the lead detective on the Dooley case as well as many others over the 15 years he worked for the Boone County Sheriff's Department.

The murder case grabbed national attention. On May 29, 2012, Mockbee, a young mother of two, was found bludgeoned to death outside her office at Thermo Fisher Scientific in Boone County. Police arrested the janitor, David Dooley, and a jury convicted him of her murder in 2014 despite no blood and little physical evidence linking him to the crime.

Almost two years later in August 2016, Nicholas Ramler, a law clerk employed in Tally Smith's office downloaded 12 gigabytes of information onto a thumb drive off the servers in the commonwealth's attorney's office. Tally Smith fired Ramler in September after he became belligerent when she told him she would reduce work hours. Tally Smith's attorney, Luke Morgan, has called Ramler's downloading of information an extortion attempt to keep his job.

Ramler handed the information on the thumb drive to his attorney, Steve Wolnitzek, who handed it to the Kentucky Attorney General's office. Wolnitzek has claimed in court filings the information on the thumb drive has evidence McVay might have lied in the Dooley case. The content of the thumb drives remain under seal in court records and attempts under Kentucky open records laws to get communications between McVay and Tally Smith were rejected by Tally Smith and the Boone County Sheriff’s Department.

Tally Smith fired Ramler then sued to get the thumb drive back, saying it contained personal family and employee information, including family photos, health records, etc.

The thumb drive, however, also contained text messages and emails between McVay and Tally Smith, Wolnitzek has claimed.

McVay and Tally Smith were in a relationship, McVay's attorney Ben Dusing has confirmed. He wouldn't confirm whether it was a romantic relationship.

An effort to "smear?"

The Dec. 16 counterclaim filed by Ramler provided the first insight into what may be on that thumb drive.The harsh text message detailed in the court document was one of several Ramler uncovered between Tally Smith and McVay, though none of the other messages are detailed in the filing.

Wolnitzek, in the court document, also alleged the data Ramler uncovered showed Tally Smith knew McVay lied during the David Dooley trial concerning a video that was put into evidence. The court document also contends she willfully withheld from the defense information about a racist skit and group McVay participated in in the early 1990s called the "Good Ole Boys" roundup when he worked for the Florence Police Department. McVay was suspended for six months without pay and demoted in 1996 when his participation came to light.

Wolnitzek, in the document, argued his client was motivated by civic duty.

"Knowing that constitutional and ethical violations may have occurred, Ramler copied the copious amount of data on a flash drive," Wolnitzek wrote. "Ramler copied as much information that he could identify as relevant to ensure that he was not 'cherry picking' the disturbing information that he found placed on the shared server."

Tally Smith referred all questions to her attorney, Morgan, who said he doesn't know what the text messages referred to. He said the text messages were sent eight months after the Dooley trial ended. The texts jump back and forth from topic to topic, he said.

"The back and forth, the jumping from one topic to another, I'd simply be guessing," Morgan said. "Anybody looking at this would be guessing. Ramler has chosen to use this to smear her."

Morgan wouldn't say what those topics were that were discussed in the text messages.

"We're dealing with litigation," Morgan said. "That's another reason why it's just wrong for the pleading to be written the way it was and filed in court."

McVay's attorney, Ben Dusing, said he hasn't seen the filing and wouldn't comment. McVay is not a party to the lawsuit.

Dooley's appeal remains on hold until all this can be sorted out. The Kentucky Attorney General has taken over prosecution of the Dooley case.

Dooley's attorneys will decide by February whether to ask for a new trial. Meanwhile, in the lawsuit Tally Smith filed against Ramler, the thumb drive has been turned over to the court for "safe-keeping." A hearing is slated for May.