Two Charged Claim Not Guilty
Two people facing charges in the slaying of a southern Kentucky woman have entered not guilty pleas. Forty-one-year-old John W. Smith of Tompkinsville and thirty-four-year-old Chasity R. Hagan of Summer Shade entered the pleas Tuesday in Monroe County District Court. They are charged in the slaying of sixty-three-year-old Brenda Howard of Tompkinsville, who was found last week at her home by a family member. Police say she had been beaten and stabbed. County Attorney Wes Stephens says Smith is charged with murder and first-degree burglary, and Hagan is charged with complicity to murder and complicity to first-degree burglary. A preliminary hearing in the case is set for May 1.
