TRIAL DATES SET FOR LAWRENCE COUNTY TEENAGER AND PARTNER IN MINGO COUNTY, WVA MURDER/ROBBERY OF WEST VIRGINIA COAL EXECUTIVE;
IN SEPARATE CASE, MARTIN COUNTY MAN ARRESTED, FACING EXTRADITION TO MINGO COUNTY ON ATTEMTPED MURDER CHARGE POLICE WON’T DISCUSS
(Hatfield, left was a well known coal company president in both W.Va. and Ky. Brandon Lee Fitzpatrick, top and Anthony Arriaga have separate trials in the murder of Hatfield set for Sept. and October.)
AUGUST 13, 2017 written by WADE QUEEN
Trial dates have been set for two young men, one of whom is a teenage native from Lawrence County, accused of murdering a former coal executive in a fatal shooting in southern West Virginia last year.
22-year-old Anthony Raheem Arriaga of Ohio will head to trial September 5 in the May 2016 death of coal executive Bennett “Ben” Hatfield.
Brandon Fitzpatrick, a 19-year-old from Louisa, Kentucky, will go to trial October 5.
Both men were in Mingo criminal court Thursday, August 10 for pretrial hearings. Both face first-degree murder charges. Fitzpatrick also faces a conspiracy charge. Arriaga pleaded guilty to murder and robbery charges in April, but later withdrew his plea.
In May 2016, Ben Hatfield, an executive at Patriot Coal until he resigned in 2015 as Patriot Coal’s president and CEO., was at Mountain View Memory Gardens Cemetery in Maher in Mingo County — tending to his late wife’s gravesite, as he always did during the Memorial Day holiday.
Law enforcement officials say Hatfield was robbed, then shot and killed by Fitzpatrick and Arriaga.
Anthony Arriaga said they plotted to steal Hatfield’s SUV and sell its parts. Arriaga said he had been using drugs and had little sleep over several days.
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WILLIE BOB McCOY CHARGED WITH ATTEMPTED MURDER IN WVA
Officials on both sides of the Tug refuse to release details of charge
A Martin County man is in the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center in Paintsville after being picked up as a fugitive from West Virginia.
Willie Bob McCoy, 35, of Pilgrim, was arrested on Monday August 7 by deputy Paul Evans of the Martin County Sheriff’s Department. McCoy is wanted by Mingo County law enforcement authorities on a charge of attempted murder.
Police officials in both Kentucky and West Virginia are refusing to disclose any information about the incident leading to the charge, saying court records will not be made public until after McCoy is officially served with the West Virginia warrant — a process that could take up to 30 days.
Willie McCoy remains lodged in the Big Sandy Regional Detention Center, in Paintsville as of this weekend.
