Wolf Won’t Allow “Checkbook” Comment by Accuser’s Attorney in Trial
Chris Thieneman, whose arrest 32 months ago on wanton endangerment charges was widely reported in local media, may finally be getting his day in court.
Judge Amber Wolf, in a March 4 pretrial hearing, suggested that prosecutors and the Thieneman defense be prepared to start a trial in late March. The trial was to have started March 7, but Judge Wolf granted a continuance after prosecutors put forward an expert witness who was unknown to Thieneman attorney Steve Pence. Pence requested time to prepare for that witness.
The case stems from a September 2013 incident involving Thieneman’s ex-girlfriend, April Smith, which resulted in Thieneman’s arrest.
According to police records, as reported in Sept. 2013 by WDRB, a police report said “the two were arguing inside a car on Brownsboro Road when Thieneman got out of the car and took her phone. The woman says she left her car in the middle of the road to go call police, according to the arrest report. That’s when she says Thieneman followed her and put his arm around her neck.”
In court yesterday, Judge Wolf granted the prosecutor’s request to exclude two pieces of information in the trail. Wolf ruled that the defense may not introduce evidence that an attorney for Smith asked Thieneman to “get out his checkbook” and the case would go away. Wolf also ruled that a polygraph test which Thieneman voluntarily took and passed would not be allowed at the trial.
A request to overturn a ruling made by Judge Erica Williams was denied. That ruling focused on the admissibility of other alleged instances of assault against Thieneman.
In May 2014, Thieneman was arrested a second time on charges that he violated an emergency protection order and retaliated against a participant in the legal process. That case is still in the court system.
Thieneman, a star football player at the University of Louisville in the 1980s, made several runs for public office, including as a candidate for Mayor in the 2010 Republican primary.
