Former Liberty County corrections officer Kenneth Lumpkin appeared Tuesday before Judge Charles Rose Jr. in Long County Superior Court for a hearing about his legal representation.
At the hearing, Rose approved two new capital-offense attorneys to represent Lumpkin in his upcoming murder trial. Up to that point, he had been represented by several attorneys. The new attorneys are Newell Hamilton Jr. and April Y. Herbert, who filed the substitution-of-counsel papers for the hearing.
Rose also ruled that the new attorneys would be given 30 days to review the case and decide whether they’ll make any new motions. After that 30-day period, the district attorneys who are prosecuting the case will be given 15 days to respond, followed by the scheduling of a motion hearing.
Lumpkin faces charges of malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, kidnapping with bodily injury and concealing the death of another in connection with the death of Lori Arrowood.
Arrowood was reported missing from her John Wells Road home Sept. 25, 2010. After a communitywide search for the woman, her body was found a few days later in a wooded area near Tower Road in Long County.
Lumpkin reportedly was a friend of Arrowood and had been doing some work at her home on the day she disappeared.
Before his arrest, Lumpkin had been a Liberty County Sheriff’s Office employee for 14 years. He was arraigned, for his alleged involvement in the case in March 2012 and could face the death penalty if convicted.