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Hyten pleads not guilty to all counts

Saturday, July 9, 2011
By JARED JERNAGAN Assistant Editor
Hyten

BY JARED JERNAGAN

Assistant Editor

BRAZIL -- Appearing in Clay Circuit Court Friday, Putnam County planner and emergency management director Kim Hyten entered not guilty pleas to the four criminal charges he faces.

Hyten, 43, Fillmore, is charged with two felonies and two misdemeanors stemming from alleged domestic incidents with wife Karen Reeves-Hyten in late May.

The pre-trial hearing took place in Brazil, as Clay Circuit Court Judge Joseph Trout and Clay County Prosecutor Lee Reberger are handling the case. The Clay County officials were appointed to handle the case because Hyten is a Putnam County employee.

Trout read Hyten each of his counts, explaining the penalties for each should a jury find him guilty. He faces Class D felony charges of strangulation and criminal confinement. Each of these offenses carries a sentence of six months to three years and up to a $10,000 fine.

He is also charged with the Class A misdemeanors domestic battery and interference with a criminal investigation. These carry sentences of up to one year and up to a $5,000 fine.

Besides entering the not guilty pleas, attorney Darrell Felling requested bond reduction for Hyten, who was arrested on June 24. He bonded out later that day, paying the full amount of $7,000. Felling asked the amount required be reduced to 10 percent.

Trout denied the request.

A pre-trial conference is tentatively set for 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13 in Clay Circuit Court.

The jury trial is currently slated for 9 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 25 in Putnam Superior Court.

Felling indicated the defense may seek more time to prepare for the case.

"I assure you I will make every reasonable effort to move forward. It does seem to be a fairly short window," Felling said.

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  • He should never work for Putnam county again.

    -- Posted by Blue6 on Sat, Jul 9, 2011, at 6:16 AM

  • Felling doesn't do anything in a timely matter. He ptobably won't even look at that file until October.

    -- Posted by townielove on Sat, Jul 9, 2011, at 12:58 PM

  • this is to Blue6, what happened to innocent till proven guilty???????????

    -- Posted by katt3166 on Wed, Jul 13, 2011, at 5:23 PM

  • The truth will come out and he will get his job back.

    -- Posted by peace2019 on Fri, Jul 15, 2011, at 10:26 AM

  • From what I hear Felling is darn good though - I think all lawyers are slow.

    -- Posted by indianamama on Fri, Jul 15, 2011, at 1:20 PM

  • I went to his office one time to get some answers on a important project,he was not there,I left my number with his secretary and he never called me.This is what we get for our tax dollars?

    -- Posted by Engineer1 on Fri, Jul 15, 2011, at 11:17 PM
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