HUNTINGTON — A former Cabell County magisterial candidate has been arrested for her second time in nearly a year.

Amy Walker Daugherty, now known as Amy Walker Irwin, was arrested Sunday night and charged with misdemeanor drug possession, according to a criminal complaint filed in Cabell County Magistrate Court.

The misdemeanor complaint states officers approached Daugherty on Sunday as she sat in a vehicle parked at 17th Street and Doulton Avenue. They noticed a small piece of suspected crack cocaine. It lay in a plastic bag on her side of a vehicle’s console next to the gear shift.

Magistrate Dan Goheen released Daugherty on a $5,000 bond. She had previously been released on a $40,000 bond linked to pending drug and bribery charges from an Oct. 21, 2008, arrest.

The earlier arrest occurred two weeks before the Nov. 4, 2008, general election. Criminal complaints charge that she admitted to trafficking crack cocaine and offered Huntington Police Sgt. Darrell Booth money in return for her release.

Five of the six drug trafficking counts were dismissed in Cabell County Magistrate Court due to lack of evidence. The remaining bribery and drug trafficking counts advanced to Cabell Circuit Court and still await indictment.

Defense attorney David Lockwood said in August his client, who is free on bond, maintains her innocence.

Booth, a witness in the case, said in August investigators intend to prosecute the Oct. 21, 2008, case in federal court. Lockwood said that is "certainly a possibility."

Special prosecutor Damon Morgan of Mason County said in August he was still waiting for investigators to provide him with information needed to present the case for indictment in state court. Booth said those reports have not been turned over because of the plan to prosecute the case in federal court.

The Oct. 21, 2008, arrest derailed Daugherty’s candidacy for Cabell County magistrate. She was the leading vote-getter in the May primary election, but finished in last place in the November general election.

Daugherty, the daughter of a former circuit judge, reportedly sought rehabilitation following the Oct. 21, 2008, arrest.

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Chris Harris/The Herald-Dispatch Amy Walker Daugherty, former candidate for Cabell County magistrate, was in magistrate court Wednesday, December 10, 2008, on charges of crack possession and bribery.

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