Kentucky Chief Justice John Minton Jr. is being asked to disqualify Senior Judge Martin McDonald from hearing the case of death row inmate Roger Dale Epperson, who is seeking a new trial based on claims his trial lawyers were ineffective. Assistant public advocate David Barron says McDonald harbors a bias against his client because, in a previous hearing, McDonald made a threatening gesture toward him. McDonald threatened to strangle the lawyer if he called the judge's cell phone again and called the lawyer's case "ridiculous."
