HENDRICKS — A Lincoln County commissioner charged in August with slowing down a funeral procession received probation, Lincoln County court records said.

Court records said Richard Hamer pleaded guilty via an Alford plea on Aug. 30 to charges of disrupting a funeral procession. In an Alford plea, a defendant maintains he is innocent of the charges against him, but acknowledges that there would likely be enough evidence for a jury to find him guilty at a trial.

The charge against Hamer was a misdemeanor, and Hamer received one year of unsupervised probation and a stayed sentence of 90 days in jail, court records said.

The funeral procession incident happened in Hendricks in March, according to a criminal complaint filed in Lincoln County District Court. A funeral home director reported a white Buck LeSabre turning onto Division Street in Hendricks ahead of a funeral procession, and driving very slowly in front of the procession for several blocks. The complaint said the funeral home director and another witness in Hendricks identified the Buick as Hamer’s and said Hamer was driving the vehicle.

–Deb Gau