Husband of a Lexington murder victim testifies against man charged in fatal beating
A man accused of beating another man to death in a downtown Lexington parking garage was denied a bond reduction by a Fayette Circuit Court judge Wednesday.
Judge Lucy Vanmeter denied a request from Benjamin Call and his lawyer to reduce his bond from $750,000 to $100,000. Call has been in jail since Oct. 26, when he was arrested and charged with murder for allegedly beating John “Ty” Abner to death at the Victorian Square Parking Garage on West Short Street.
Vanmeter denied the bond reduction after seeing video of the deadly assault and hearing testimony from Abner’s husband and a Lexington police detective, as well as Call’s family and friends. Abner’s husband, who’s also named John Abner, said in court Wednesday that it was his first time seeing video of the assault.
“What I saw was someone pull him back and beat him senseless, who beat him when he wasn’t even moving anymore. He was beating a corpse and he stole from me the ability to even say goodbye. I wasn’t even able to be with his body because it was unrecognizable,” Abner said. “That’s a violent person and so what I thought was, ‘what if they let him out and he does this to someone else?’ I don’t think I could sleep if I haven’t said something today, if this happened.”
Some of Call’s closest friends and family members advocated for a bond reduction and said in court they would be willing to house Call while he’s on trial. They also said they’d hold him accountable for showing up to future hearings if the bond was reduced. One of the family members willing to house Call was an uncle who lives in Ashland.
Call’s attorney also said the reduced bond would not have resulted in him being released immediately, as it would have taken the family time to come up with the money.
The prosecution wanted the bond to remain at $750,000, but asked that it not be reduced to anything lower than $250,000. Ultimately, Vanmeter viewed Call as too much of a danger towards the general public after over an hour of testimony and kept his bond at $750,000.
Lexington detective: Suspect was covered in blood
More details about the incident were revealed during detective Tim Moore’s testimony. Moore went to the hospital to interview Call after the assault. He said Call was covered in blood from head to toe.
Moore also said Call had cuts on his forehead and knuckles and appeared to be intoxicated. Blood testing later confirmed that Call had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.309 at the time of the incident, nearly four times the legal limit, according to Moore.
Moore said Call’s statement was sporadic because he was intoxicated but he was comprehensive. Call told Moore he believed he was fighting with his brother-in-law for things that he had done to the family, but later said he was defending himself from a person he met at a bar earlier that evening.
Why the Ohio resident, murder suspect was in Lexington
Call, who resides in Pomeroy, Ohio, was in Lexington for a contracting job, according to Moore. He told Moore he met Abner at Pies & Pints and the two had food and drinks together.
Call and Abner were later spotted by a witness at another nearby bar, Moore said. Surveillance footage confirmed the two were at Centro on Cheapside Park enjoying each other’s company and having a good time, according to Moore.
Call and Abner then went to the parking garage where the alleged assault happened on the fifth floor, Moore said. Surveillance footage of the incident, which was played in court, appears to show Call beating Abner to death and refutes Call’s statement that he was not the main aggressor.
Time stamps from the video showed the assault happening from 10:30-10:49 p.m., only to be broken up when police arrived. Moore said Call had no recollection of the attack or the time spent at Centro with Abner.
Suspect’s family: Call doesn’t normally display violent behavior
After Moore’s testimony, some of Call’s close friends and family members testified to try to explain how he’s kindhearted and doesn’t normally display violent behavior. Call’s mother, Cheryl Call, told the court her son had issues with alcohol in the past but has never been violent as a result.
Cheryl Call and three other people close to Benjamin Call wrote Vanmeter letters, further lobbying for a reduced bond. His mother specifically wrote about how helpful he was while she mourned the death of her husband, his father, in 2006 due to kidney failure.
“On days I didn’t think I had the strength, he came to me to lend a hand, sometimes only listening,” Cheryl Call wrote in her letter. “It doesn’t matter where we are, how old we are or who’s around he always shows his love and affection to me. I can always count on a kiss and hug every time I lay eyes on him.”
Call’s attorney previously tried to lower his bond in November, but it was denied by Fayette District Judge Lindsay H. Thurston. Call has children in Ohio and was hoping the court would allow him to serve house arrest while awaiting further hearings, his attorney said at the time.
This story was originally published February 16, 2022 at 1:24 PM.
