Motion for new Brent Bollinger trial denied, Sentencing set Friday in Bourbon County District Court

On Monday, Bourbon County District Judge Mark Ward denied a recent motion for a new trial filed by the attorney of the defendant in an arson and murder case that concluded when guilty verdicts were handed down in September.

A two-week trial in the case of Brent Bollinger, which included testimony from 60 witnesses, ended Sept. 18 when Bollinger was found guilty by a jury of first degree murder, aggravated arson, and aggravated endangerment of a child for his involvement in a deadly Oct. 13, 2011 house fire on Grand Road.

Jurors found that he killed his wife, Brenna Bollinger, by setting fire to their home. Their then 2-year-old son, Bryson, was in the home at the time and suffered severe burn injuries.

A post-trial hearing took place Monday afternoon in Bourbon County District Court with attorneys from both sides of the case present.

According to court documents, Paul Morrison, the defendant's attorney, filed a motion for a new trial Sept. 25, one week after the trial concluded.

Ward said during the hearing that a motion for a new trial "has to be granted with caution." To support his reasoning behind denying the request for a new trial, Ward read a list of arguments and past motions Morrison has filed since the case began in 2012 after Bollinger was arrested and charged. The court must find that one or more certain conditions exist before such a motion can be granted.

One of those conditions is that the jury was not provided with sufficient evidence to support the verdict of guilty on all three counts the defendant faced. Ward denied the motion for a new trial.

"I think ample evidence was provided," Ward said.

Past motions that Ward has denied have involved a change of venue, admission of third party evidence, suppression of statements Bollinger made to a paramedic and a law enforcement officer the night of the house fire, and hearsay statements allegedly made by the decedent.

"There was little to no difficulty in choosing a fair and impartial jury," Ward said. "The jury process went smoothly."

About 200 people were called as potential jurors, with jury selection taking place at the Danny and Willa Ellis Family Fine Arts Center.

In his statements, Morrison discussed the notion of motive and an incident that took place a week and a half before the fire in which Bollinger burned his wife's clothes in the backyard of their home.

"Did this give him a motive to burn the house down?" Morrison said. "That's an absurd argument ... My client was charged with a crime because he happened to be there. It's a circumstantial case."

Both sides in the case have received copies of the pre-sentence investigation reports that have been filed and the court has reviewed the offender registration document. The PSI is an investigation conducted by court officers into the history of a person convicted of a crime prior to sentencing. Checks are run through the KBI and FBI to obtain any criminal history.

A sentencing grid is used by the judge as a basis for the sentence issued.

Bollinger faces a standard sentence of life in prison for the conviction of first-degree murder, an off-grid felony, which indicates the severity of the crime. The count of aggravated arson, a level three person felony, holds a possible sentence of 55-61 months, and the aggravated child endangerment count, a level nine person felony, according to court documents.

The sentences may run concurrently or consecutively.

Bollinger is scheduled to be sentenced at 9 a.m. Friday in the Bourbon County District Court.