Charges dismissed for woman who alleged police coercion

Charges against a Lawrenceburg woman who claimed police pointed a gun at her to force her to confess to a crime were dismissed just before she was supposed to stand trial last Wednesday morning.
Heather Hume, 32, of 201.5 Saffell St. was charged last August with falsely reporting an incident when a man at that address, Zachary Penwell, allegedly shot himself in the leg to avoid paying rent and claimed he was robbed.
David Nutgrass, a prosecutor with the Anderson County attorney’s office, explained why the charges against Hume were dropped.
“I sat down with Ms. Hume, her attorney, and the investigating KSP detective, and at the end of that meeting, the detective and I agreed that Ms. Hume had no desire to mislead the detective when she made the statement for which she was charged, and that we were comfortable with dismissing the case,” Nutgrass said in a written statement.
Along with the allegation about a gun, Hume alleged that police threatened to take away her children and expose her alleged drug habit if she didn’t admit that she knew Penwell’s shooting was staged.
Hume’s attorney, Sheilah Kurtz of Frankfort, filed a motion to suppress Hume’s confession, alleging that the Lawrenceburg Police Department interviewed her twice and coerced her into confessing.
However, it was the Kentucky State Police who interviewed Hume, according to acting Lawrenceburg Police Chief Chris Atkins.
Penwell is scheduled to go to trial Sept. 13 at 9 a.m. in Anderson District Court.