BY STEVE KEMME
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON -- Ellen Peck, accused of helping her son get rid of a 34-year-old woman's body parts, pleaded not guilty Wednesda to obstruction of justice and tampering with evidence.
Judge Michael Sage of Butler County Common Pleas Court refused during Wednesday's arraignment to lower her $1 million bond, and set her two-day trial for Nov. 12.
Authorities are conducting a nationwide manhunt for her son, James Lee Lawson, 29, of Middletown, who is accused of killing Cheryl Ann Durkin around Feb. 25. A torso was found along the Great Miami River in Hamilton in mid-April and was identified as Ms. Durkin's in mid-May.
Police say Ms. Peck, 46, of Middletown, helped her son dispose of Ms. Durkin's body parts.
She was arrested on Sept. 1 after she and another relative led police to the buried body parts in Ohio and Indiana.
Ms. Peck, in a prison jump suit, said nothing in court Wednesday. Her attorney, Vincent Sanzone, asked Judge Sage to lower the bond which had been set by Middletown Municipal Court Judge Mark Wall.
Ms. Peck, who has worked for AK Steel in Middletown for 18 years, has no prior criminal record, has been as cooperative as possible with the police investigation and didn't cause her son to flee, he said.
"She doesn't know where he is," Mr. Sanzone said. "She is not a flight risk. She has nowhere to go."
But John McCracken, assistant prosecuting attorney, argued against it. He noted the seriousness of the allegations and said she is a flight risk.
"She took body parts to certain areas in Ohio and Indiana and buried them," he said. "This conduct is outrageous."
Mr. McCracken said the evidence against Ms. Peck, including a statement she gave to police, is overwhelming.
Judge Sage said he saw no evidence that warranted changing Ms. Peck's bond.
She has been held in the Butler County Jail since being transferred from Middletown's municipal jail Friday.
If convicted of the charges filed against her, Ms. Peck could be sentenced to 10 years in prison.
