London Mayor Randall Weddle is asking a court to move the felony campaign contribution case against him out of Laurel County on the grounds he was on a charter cruise in the Bahamas at the time the alleged offenses occurred.

In a motion filed Wednesday, an attorney for Weddle requested a change of venue in the case brought by Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman late last month.

Weddle was indicted in March by a special Laurel County grand jury on four felony counts tied to excessive campaign contributions. Prosecutors say he gave more than $200,000 to Gov. Andy Beshear and the Kentucky Democratic Party on behalf of his family members and business associates in violation of state and federal individual donor limits.

The filing offers the first official glimpse into the defense strategy Weddle may mount against the charges.

Attorney J. Guthrie True doesn’t argue Weddle made the contributions in other people’s names, but insists the mayor reported the problem directly to Beshear when he learned there was an issue. Beshear and the KDP later refunded the donations to Weddle’s credit card.

“Excess contributions are only considered unlawful if the violation is done ‘knowingly,’” True wrote. “In short, in the end, there were no contributions at all.”

True offered evidence the mayor chartered a nine-day, $345,000, fully-staffed cruise in Nassau, Bahamas, and therefore wasn’t in Laurel County between Dec. 27 to 30, 2022, when the excess contributions are alleged to have occurred.

Text messages between Weddle and a fundraiser for Beshear’s reelection campaign indicate the mayor was having problems using the online financial services platform fused for donations.

“We are out of the country and the website Is acting funny,” Weddle wrote Andy Beshear for Governor finance Director Lucas Johnson. “I won’t return until 31st.”

That platform, Stripe Inc., is headquartered in San Francisco, where the contributions were initially accepted, and the original recipients — Beshear and the KDP — were based in Frankfort.

“In short, no conduct related to the purported contributions occurred in Laurel County,” True wrote. “Any act critical to the determination as to where this indictment may be brought and tried occurred outside of Laurel County. As a result, the Franklin Circuit Court is the proper venue.”

Weddle is slated to be arraigned in Laurel County next week. While under indictment, he is barred from traveling outside the U.S., and he must turn over his passport during the arraignment hearing.

Defendants often seek a change of venue in cases that have been the subject of high-profile media attention and public scrutiny for fear it could taint local jury pools. True did not lay out that argument in Wednesday’s motion.

Still, a change in venue would ensure Weddle avoids a politically charged Laurel County divided over his performance through multiple scandals, including the police shooting of a man whose address officers appeared to have mistaken.

Meanwhile, Weddle also faces a combative London City Council that has already impeached him once and is actively investigating him. His administration is also under investigation by the FBI for its alleged misuse of federal criminal background check software.