Vauhxx Booker pleaded not guilty to felony battery and misdemeanor trespass charges stemming from last year’s incident at Lake Monroe during an initial hearing Monday.
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Booker appeared virtually Monday morning before Johnson County Superior Court Judge Lance Hamner. Hamner was tasked with overseeing the cases against Booker and his alleged attackers after Monroe County’s criminal court judges recused themselves from Booker’s case.
Hamner fulfilled Booker’s request for a public defender during Monday’s hearing.
Bloomington attorney Kitty Liell had been representing Booker pro bono since last summer, but said expenses would have been too large for a criminal defense trial. She said she would continue to help Booker as needed when it came to legal proceedings in the cases against Sean Purdy and Jerry Cox.
Booker was charged over the summer after he withdrew from an agreed-upon restorative justice process with Purdy and Cox, who he says jumped him and threatened to lynch him last year.
A pretrial hearing has been set for January 20.
