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Purdy Lawyers Want Judge In Booker Case Disqualified

By Mitch Legan

Posted August 13, 2021

Attorney David Hennessy (center), representing Sean Purdy (left), speaks to the media during a news conference last July. (Credit: WRTV 6, Indianapolis)

Attorneys for Sean Purdy, one of the men accused of jumping Vauhxx Booker last summer, want the judge presiding over the charges recently brought against Booker to recuse herself.

READ MORE: Vauhxx Booker Facing Charges Over Last Year’s Lake Monroe Incident

In a petition filed in Monroe Circuit Court Friday afternoon, Purdy’s attorneys say since Judge Valeri Haughton recused herself in the case filed against Purdy last year, she should recuse herself from the case against Booker. They also say Haughton failed to issue a warrant for Booker’s arrest after he was charged with felony battery last month, showing “heightened favoritism” for him.

Last summer, Booker claimed a group of white men jumped him near Lake Monroe and threatened to lynch him. The ensuing Department of Natural Resources investigation led to charges against two of the white men, Sean Purdy and Jerry Cox.

READ MORE: DNR Releases Details Of Lake Monroe Investigation, Possible Charges

The DNR suggested charges for Booker that were not brought forth. That led to Purdy’s request for a special prosecutor. Monroe County Prosecutor Erika Oliphant recused herself from the case, as did three Monroe County judges: Mary Ellen Diekhoff, Christine Talley Haseman, and Haughton.  

Haughton recused herself from the case when Purdy’s petition for a special prosecutor listed Haughton’s daughter, city clerk Nicole Bolden, as a public official who rushed to judgment after the incident. Bolden and Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton put out a statement two days after the incident condemning what allegedly happened over the weekend of the Fourth of July.

Haughton was the judge overseeing the request for a new prosecutor, so she recused herself from the case.

The case is being overseen by a special prosecutor and judge: Sonia Leerkamp, former Hendricks County prosecutor, and Johnson County Superior Court Judge Lance Hamner.

“If recusal was required there, it is also required here,” the petition reads.

Although Booker wasn’t charged, the two sides attempted to sort the issue out through restorative justice. They couldn’t come to an agreement, though, which led to Booker being charged with misdemeanor trespass and felony battery at the end of July.

READ MORE: Vauhxx Booker: “I Am Not Going To Back Down”

Last week, Purdy’s lawyers filed a petition for felony charges against Purdy to be dropped because Booker pulled out of the agreed-upon mediation process.

Now, Booker has an initial hearing set for Aug. 18. But Purdy’s lawyers say Haughton shouldn’t be the one presiding over it.

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