The trial for Dustin Caudill, the Elizabethtown man accused of shooting and killing two men and then setting the Henon Lane residence they were in on fire in October 2024, was scheduled to begin next week.
That trial is getting pushed back, however, due to a backlog in pre-trial forensic assessments at the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center.
Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris McCrary told Hardin Circuit Judge Larry Ashlock during what was supposed to be the final pre-trial conference Tuesday that when the commonwealth requested an evaluation of Caudill on April 6 they were told it would be a two to five month wait before Caudill could be evaluated by KCPC. Because the forensic assessment takes approximately 30 days, and KCPC would then need additional time to prepare a report, McCrary said the assessment could not be completed in time for the scheduled June 8 trial start.
Defense attorneys for Caudill said they had prepared to begin the trial on June 8 and their witnesses had made travel arrangements for the trial. Ashlock said that statutes which allow the defense to submit arguments regarding Caudill’s mental health allow for the prosecution to conduct their own evaluation for rebuttal, so he sustained the commonwealth’s motion for a continuance.
The new trial date was scheduled for October 19, but Ashlock said if conflicts with scheduling witnesses arise it can be addressed at a later date. A pre-trial conference to discuss several motions currently under consideration in the case was scheduled for June 16.
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