 Spring Cleaning is here and Appalachian Wireless has the deal to get you started. Get a Samsung Galaxy S8 for a penny or a Galaxy S8 Plus for only $89.99 on the region's best network. Better service, bigger savings, that's today's Appalachian Wireless. To your agreement required, see store for details. Evidence was the main focus today when John Russell Hall, the man accused of murdering Pikeville Police Officer Scotty Hamilton, was back in Pike Circuit Court. 56-year-old John Russell Hall made his first appearance in Pike Circuit Court since his arraignment on a murder charge in Pikeville Police Officer Scotty Hamilton's death. Hall is accused of shooting and killing the veteran police officer on the night of March 13th at Hurricane Creek. In today's pretrial hearing, Commonwealth Attorney Rick Bartley said his office received back a large amount of discovery evidence in the case. It probably exceeds a thousand pages. It includes numerous photographs, statements, things of that type, a lot of documentary evidence. There were, however, some concerns voiced during Thursday's hearing. The main concern voiced in today's hearing was how the evidence, which totals more than a thousand pages at this point, could be inflammatory to the general public and could make it difficult to find an impartial jury in Pike County. Bartley said in order to protect John Hall's right to a fair trial, he believes the discovery evidence and evidence expected to be received back in late July should be sealed in the court file, effectively blocking it from the view of the public before John Hall's murder trial. Part of my concern in this case, frankly, is some of the stuff that's in here is highly inflammatory. And I'm really concerned about it being made public in some ways, that it might bring a disultimate jury in this case, the jury that's ultimately chosen in this case. And so I wanted to just kind of advise the defense of that, because, of course, I know there's a way in court to a fair trial. We could. So we've got that issue as I want to bring. We could. We could have a follow-up discovery under seal, and then have a conclusion of the case. It would be unsealed. They're kind of a parallel that's close to judge with purposes. Yeah, I think that's an acceptable alternative to both protect the record and protect our ability to seek a fair trial. I think there's already quite a bit of media coverage and information out there. Bartley said sealing the evidence will protect John Hall's right to a fair trial. A status hearing in the case was set for the morning of August 9th. A trial date has not yet been set. At the time of his death, Officer Scotty Hamilton, a husband and a father of an infant girl, was 35 years old. In addition to today's discussions about evidence, it was briefly mentioned about the prosecution's desire to seek enhanced penalties in this case. Commonwealth Attorney Rick Bartley announced at a recent event that he plans to seek the death penalty against John Russell Hall. The defense did not have a comment on today's hearing, but they did say that today's hearing was the beginning of a very long process in this case. Reporting in downtown Pikeville, Chris Anderson, EKB News.