Rodney Mark Workman stands charged with threatening to kill Prosecutor Jim Samples and his family last Summer. Mr Workman had his day in Court on Feb. 19th.  The whole deal took around 6 hours including jury deliberations. Pretty interesting to watch from the peanut gallery! Let's get started.
Principal players:
Zipped up in his black robe, Judge Jack Alsop
   Because he was  the subject (victim) of the case, Prosecutor Jim Samples was recused out. Representing the state was Michael Cox a  prosecutor from over in Nicholas County.
   Workman was clad in a checkered shirt and jeans. He seemed to be at ease and paid close attention to the proceedings
   Representing Workman was our senior barrister, Wayne King, the Waynster.
   Other than Badges keeping things in order, only one member of the public was on hand to watch the proceedings.
  With all that behind us, Judge Alsop got things running exactly at 9am. Every pew was full of potential jurors. Clerk Mike Asbury spun the Bingo wheel to determine who got the nod to serve as jurors. Selection went smooth with no juror saying they had heard anything about the case.  During selection it seemed like everyone on the panel was related to someone else there or to Workman. All said they could be impartial except one guy ho has worked as a Badge. That feller said he had a bias in favor of law enforcement.
  Back last Summer The Communicator ran a front page above the fold article on the arrest. We know not everyone reads this paper but not one admitting to hearing about the case?
   By 9:45, the striking was complete and the 10 female and 2 male jury was seated and sworn in. The panel looked like a picture of West Virginia, young, old, bearded, short haired, and some pudgy.
  The Robe went thru a long spiel explaining the case and what's expected of the jury.
  With the jury in the backroom, Wayne King worked the case seeking a motion to keep evidence away from the jury. Central to his request were taped jail house conversations (detrimental)  between Workman and family members. Alsop brought to light that the Prosecutor Cox sought those tapes after the deadline for submitting (discovery).  At issue were 41 of the conversations with 4 recordings with big emphasis on the case.  Cox said that those four conversations were important because Workman tried to get his family members to provide false information.
  The Waynester got all fired up during his speech. His strong effort to eliminate the damning info moved the Judge to the front of his seat with , "YOU heard my rules!"
  We couldn't understand what the Judge had decided but can tell ya, the taped conversations were not introduced into evidence and not mentioned again. That may have been a win for Mr King.
   Dressed in his gray suit, Michael Cox's opening statement was clean, simple, direct. Stuff like:  Samples prosecuted a Workman case in 2017; Workman was sent to the slammer; when he got out in 2019, Workman was mad at Samples for taking two years from his life (in jail); and, Workman's Mother and sister heard Mark Workman make the threats against Samples.
  Wayne also provided opening remarks. Stuff like: You're going to hear a wild story... Blah blah Blah... No threats were made. Somewhere in the mix, Wayne got into the old 2017 case but was stopped by the Robe. Something about, "Were' not going to try that old case again!...MOVE IN" . King wasn't heeding the Court and continued with:  Samples was NOT aware of the threats [case]!!!! He didn't know ANYTHING!  Alsop was very firm with King but it was like water off a duck's back.
  First witness was Green Shirt F Raynor who explained he had received the information from the Circuit Clerk's office ; the threats were made  at Mark's Mother's home; and it was Raynor who arrested the defendant.