HERMANN — The preliminary hearing for the man accused in the March 12 fatal shooting of one Hermann policeman and seriously wounding a second has been delayed until Friday, Aug. 4.

The 1 p.m. hearing for Kenneth Lee Simpson was rescheduled last Wednesday afternoon by Franklin County Circuit Court Associate Judge Matthew Houston. Twentieth Circuit Public Defender Matthew Shellenbergar, representing Simpson, had filed a motion several days earlier seeking a continuance. A conference call between the judge, Shellenbergar and Kelly Lynn Snyder, lead prosecutor in the case for the Missouri Attorney General’s Office, was held Monday afternoon, May 22. It took until late Wednesday for the two attorneys to agree on a date.

The hearing is scheduled to be held in the circuit’s Division 4 court in Gasconade County. At the preliminary hearing, the prosecution team, which includes Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey serving as co-counsel along with Assistant Attorney General Gregory Goodwin, will present an amount of evidence it feels is sufficient to show that Simpson likely committed the five felonies for which he is charged. The defense will challenge the evidence presented and if the judge agrees the state has shown the defendant likely committed the crimes, he will order the case bound over to Circuit Court.

Simpson is facing a first-degree murder charge in the shooting of Det. Sgt. Mason Griffith, who also served as the police chief of Rosebud; first-degree assault in the wounding of Hermann Patrolman Allen Sullentrup; two counts of armed criminal action; and a single weapons charge that stems from Simpson being a felon in possession of a firearm. Simpson is being held without bond in the Crawford County Jail which contracts with Gasconade County.

The Hermann policemen approached Simpson in Casey’s General Store on Market Street (Highway 19) about 9 p.m. Sunday, March 12. Simpson, whose last permanent address appears to be in unincorporated Warren County near Warrenton, was named in warrants issued in Warren and Franklin counties, according to police reports. After first denying who he was, Simpson reportedly pulled a weapon and began firing on the policemen inside the store, according to reports. After fatally wounding Griffith with shots to the chest and Sullentrup with a shot to the head, Simpson ran from the convenience store to a nearby residence on Market Street. He was holed up in the residence, surrounded by law enforcement officers, until early the next afternoon. He was flushed from the house when police fired tear gas into the building. Simpson was taken into custody without further incident.

Gasconade County Prosecuting Attorney Mary Weston requested the Missouri Attorney General’s Office handle the prosecution of the case.

Security at the Gasconade County courthouse was unusually tight on the day of Simpson’s arraignment before Circuit Court Associate Judge Ada Brehe-Krueger, especially considering Simpson’s appearance was conducted by way of video conference between the courtroom and the Crawford County Jail. Brehe-Krueger read the charges against Simpson and explained the range of punishment for each charge. Simpson said he understood the charges and entered a plea of not guilty.