Two weeks to the day after he was arrested, the man accused of murdering Pikeville Police Officer Scotty Hamilton entered a plea in the case in Pike Circuit Court.

Thursday afternoon, John Russell Hall entered a not guilty plea to charges including murder in relation to Officer Hamilton’s death.

The arraignment hearing was fairly short and uneventful, but it helped paint a picture for where the case against Hall could go from here. A pretrial hearing was set for May 24th. Between today’s hearing and that May 24th hearing, the Commonwealth will have to determine whether it intends to seek life in prison, or the death penalty for John Russell Hall.

Hall’s attorney, Brian Hewlett, with the Public Defender’s Office, said the case will be difficult for the community, as well as his office. But, he said, Hall has a right to representation.

John Russell Hall was ordered to continue to be held without bond. Hewlett did not object to that order. Hall was remanded back to the custody of the Pike County Detention Center, where he has been lodged since his arrest.

[su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/osbGveE5jgs” height=”340″]

John Hall’s arraignment was not the only action Thursday in the case of Officer Scotty Hamilton’s death. The four people accused of harboring Hall following the alleged murder of Officer Hamilton were also arraigned.

Earlier Thursday, 39-year-old Michael Slone, 37-year-old Amanda Dotson, 54-year-old Gregory Slone, and 45-year-old Jeanne Blackburn, were all arraigned on indictment charges of hindering prosecution or apprehension in the first-degree. The four are accused of aiding Hall after he allegedly murdered Scotty Hamilton on March 13th.

All four pleaded not guilty, and were ordered held on $10,000 cash bonds each. Pike Commonwealth’s Attorney Rick Bartley said he hopes to get the case to trial quickly so it does not interfere in any way with the trial for John Russell Hall. A pretrial conference was scheduled in the case of the four for April 12.

[su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/yuVDUJBr3Bc” height=”340″]

“This part of the case is fairly simple,” Bartley said. “I don’t know that there would be any forensics testing or anything like that that would delay a trial. And if we could get everybody here, I think … everybody ought to be ready … to do discovery. We could be ready as early as June and I think everybody else could be, too, if the court put them on notice.

“It’s actually a fairly simple case on the facts,” Bartley said.

Bartley declined to comment on the day’s proceedings.