Inez Man enters not guilty plea in Vehicular Homicide case

By Roberta Cantrell
BSN Editor

An Inez man entered a not guilty plea Friday, Aug. 1, to one charge of vehicular homicide while under the influence in Boyd Circuit Court.

Henry Lee Birchfield, 60, appeared before Judge George Davis via videoconference from the Boyd County Detention Center while his attorney entered the plea on his behalf.

Birchfield turned himself in to police Tuesday, July 29, in Inez after being indicted by the Boyd County grand jury of vehicular homicide while under the influence of drugs or other substances.

The charge stems from a two-vehicle crash Jan. 10 that killed 23-year-old Jordan Huff of Huntington.

The collision occurred around 8:46 a.m. at the traffic light near a Marathon gas station and Waffle House in Catlettsburg, according to Boyd County Coroner Mark Hammond at intersection of Crider Road and U.S. 23.

Investigators said Birchfield was driving a 2021 Jeep Gladiator northbound when he disregarded a traffic control device and struck Huff’s 2017 Hyundai Sonata.

Boyd County Coroner Mark Hammond pronounced Huff dead at the scene. Emergency crews transported Birchfield to St. Mary’s Hospital for treatment of his injuries.

The county Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office does not possess discovery yet, but should by next week, according to Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Gary Conn.

Birchfield remains in jail on a $500,000 cash bond. His next court date is Sept. 19 for a pretrial conference.

If Birchfield is convicted, he faces 10 to 20 years in prison.

On July 29, Huff’s family filed a lawsuit against Birchfield in Boyd Circuit Court.