PRESTONSBURG, Ky. — The special judge overseeing the Amber Spradlin murder case has ordered the murder suspect’s attorney to show cause why he should not be held in contempt of court for citing cases that apparently do not exist in his motion to dismiss the case.

Randy Martin O’Neal is the attorney representing M.K. McKinney, who is charged with Spradlin’s murder. Last week, O’Neal made a motion to dismiss the case for not returning the indictment in open court and for violating the secrecy of grand jury proceedings.

When making motions to the court, attorneys routinely cite rulings in previous cases which bolster their arguments. But Special Judge Eddy Coleman says neither he nor his staff attorney could find evidence that three of the cases O’Neal cited actually exist.

Last week, Coleman ordered Martin to correct the citations or provide copies of the cases. But the judge says in a new order that O’Neal did neither, instead providing copies of three different cases and offering no explanation for earlier citations.

“A lawyer shall not knowingly make a false statement of fact or law to a tribunal or fail to correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made to the tribunal by the lawyer,” Coleman writes in his Order to Show Cause. “It is hereby ordered by the Court that Randy Martin O’Neal shall show cause, if any he has, why he should not be held in contempt of this Court on August 19, 2024, at the hour of 10:00 a.m. in the Floyd Circuit Courtroom.”

That same day, Coleman is also expected to hear arguments regarding motions to dismiss, reduce bonds, and any other motions that arise before then.