Donald Trammell

It’s too early to tell whether their cases will make it to trial next month, but a number of suspects in separate local murder, manslaughter, and attempted murder arrests are scheduled for their next court action on the Cullman Circuit Court’s January 28 trial docket.

Donald Wayne Trammell, is set to appear in the court of Circuit Judge Greg Nicholas, where he faces a manslaughter charge in connection with the death of his son, Logan Trammell, last Christmas Eve.

Trammell, 43, was indicted earlier this year for allegedly killing the 22 year-old in what some family members have defended as a case of mistaken identity; an attempt on Trammell’s part to stop what he believed was a theft on his property.

Trammell was freed from the Cullman County Detention Center after posting a $30,000 bond earlier this year.

In the court of Circuit Judge Martha Williams, Walter John Cornelius III faces charges of reckless manslaughter, criminally negligent homicide and public intoxication for his alleged role in the death of Hannah Bates, a Cullman woman who was killed in an ATV accident earlier this year at Stony Lonesome OHV Park.

Cornelius, 29, was driving the all-terrain vehicle in which Bates was a passenger at the time of the fatal crash, according to court records. He initially was charged with public intoxication at the scene. The Altoona resident was arrested and later freed on a $40,000 property bond.

Also awaiting trial in Williams’ court is Robert Gene Espy Jr., who faces charges of murder, conspiracy to hinder business, 1st degree theft of property, and two counts of 1st degree burglary.

Espy, 39, was arrested and later freed on a $75,000 surety bond in connection with the 2013 beating death of 71 year-old William Galin of Cullman. Galin was found dead in his home in December of 2013, after a concerned neighbor requested a welfare check from law enforcement.

Cullman County Sheriff’s investigators arrested Espy and John Edward Cole in January 2014, alleging that Cole beat Galin with a pipe wrench, and stole two rifles, one shotgun, and a vehicle from Galin’s residence.

In a separate murder case, 49 year-old Lawrence Walter Feldman faces trial in Williams’ court in connection with the stabbing death of Tracy Lynn Eby, who died at a Good Hope residence in 2016. Feldman remains in the Cullman County Detention Center on a $65,000 cash bond.