Chief Judge Says Kanawha Prosecutor Misfiled Request to Leave Ambulance Death Case

The case that has Kanawha County talking for months took another sharp turn this week, and this time the scolding came from the bench.

Kanawha County Chief Circuit Judge Carrie Webster has found that Prosecuting Attorney Debra Rusnak did not follow proper procedure when she asked to be removed from the case against Alyssa Middleton, the former ambulance driver accused of hitting and killing Elkview man John Lucas with an ambulance in April.

Why the Prosecutor Wants Off the Case

Rusnak filed a motion Monday asking to be disqualified and for a special prosecutor to be appointed. In it, she points to a relationship with the Lucas family that she describes as increasingly strained, alleging that friends and family members made statements that the community would "take matters into their own hands" if they did not like the outcome. Those statements, according to the motion, led to a 24-hour law enforcement presence at her home.

The motion also describes two confrontations, including one involving her executive assistant and another at the Kanawha County Judicial Annex after a recent hearing, and it cites protests, social media campaigns and heavy publicity around the case. These are allegations in a court filing, and the Lucas family has publicly taken issue with some of what the prosecutor claimed.

What the Chief Judge Found

The motion was first submitted to Judge Webster. In her findings, she wrote that state law requires a motion to disqualify a prosecutor, once a defendant has been indicted, to be heard by the judge presiding over the criminal case. In this case, that is Circuit Judge Dave Hardy.

Webster also found the motion had been filed the wrong way, as a miscellaneous proceeding. According to her findings, when her law clerk raised the issue, Rusnak said she didn't understand "what the big deal was," believing the chief judge had signed off on motions like this before. Webster responded that none of the 22 miscellaneous proceedings assigned to her had involved a motion to disqualify a prosecutor, and she pointed to a 2025 filing, under then-Chief Judge Kenneth Ballard, in which Rusnak used the correct process.

The ruling called the prosecutor's claim that the court had not followed procedure in the past "preposterous" and cautioned her to do her due diligence before putting something untrue in a court filing, especially without evidence to back it up.

What Happens Next

Webster ordered the motion filed with Judge Hardy, and it has been entered into the case record. It is now up to Hardy whether to grant the disqualification and have the West Virginia Prosecuting Attorneys Institute appoint a special prosecutor.

Middleton is charged with voluntary manslaughter, aggravated vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of an accident causing death in the death of the 45-year-old Lucas. Officials have said his body is believed to have been dragged about two miles after he was struck. A request to move the trial to another county is already pending, a trial isn't expected until early 2027, and the next hearing is set for November 30.

Folks across the Kanawha Valley have been following this one closely, and we'll keep you posted as it moves forward. Our thoughts remain with everyone who loved John Lucas.