{Hamlin, West Virginia}...The trial of 61 year old James A. Matheny of Midkiff continued Thursday after hitting a snag on Wednesday when, in opening statements, Steven Ruby, counsel to the U.S. Attorney, said Matheny was involved in election fraud even though he was not charged with vote buying in a two-count indictment for assault with a deadly weapon on a federal officer and brandishing a firearm. Federal prosecutors say Matheny pointed a gun and threatened to kill FBI Special Agent Todd Berry and Jim Wise, an investigator for the Secretary of State's Office, who were investigating absentee ballots cast during the May 2010 Democratic primary in Lincoln County. Matheny and his daughter, Katrina Thacker, testified Thursday. Matheny said during his testimony that neither Berry nor Wise verbally identified themselves during the incident, the investigators were traveling in an unmarked Dodge Charger with a standard West Virginia license plate, Wise carried no visible identification, and Berry, who was wearing street clothes, had a badge on his belt, but Matheny said he didn't see the badge. Thacker testified that, after the incident, she called her father about watching her son, but he told her he might be going to jail because he ran two men off his property and then heard his name on a police scanner.
