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Client Charged With Murder; Death Penalty Sought; Client Found Not Guilty By Harrison County Jury

 

Client had played music at a bar in Harrison County. After closing, several patrons attended an after hours party. Client gave a female a ride home after the party and was the last known person to see the female  alive. Evidence was disputed as to what happened after client left the party with her but circumstantial evidence pointed to another individual close to the female as a possible perpetrator. Client was charged with Murder and the Commonwealth sought the death penalty. After a multi day trial, jury found client not guilty.

 

DUI Dismissed Due To Failure of KSP to provide proper notification for DUI checkpoint (roadblock)

 

Client was charged with DUI following a stop at a road block (traffic checkpoint). Through discovery we determined that the state police had sent a media announcement as to the location of checkpoints in Harrison County. The notification which is required under KSP policy stated that the checkpoint would occur on a certain road and cited the KY HWY Number of the road. By pre-trial motion, we argued that the notification was not sufficient since it did not specify a location on the road, and therefore, the notification failed to give adequate notice. In addition, it was impossible to tell if the specific location had been approved by superiors as required since no specific location was identified. The Court agreed and suppressed the breathalyzer result and the case was dismissed.

 

Client found not guilty of Murder following jury trial

 

Client was charged with complicity to the Murder of a woman whose decomposed body was found in a yard near a popular Paris restaurant. A co-defendant had plead guilty and the prosecution had sought to prove that client had lived with the co-defendant and had participated in the murder and subsequent cover up. A 'jail house snitch' testified that client had confessed to his involvement in the murder. We deposed Dr. Emily Craig, the state of Kentucky's forensic anthropologist who testified that in her opinion the body had been deceased for some two weeks from the time the body was found. We produced evidence establishing that client was not possibly in the area at the time Dr. Craig indicated the murder took place. Following a multi-day trial, the jury found client not guilty of murder.

 

Client found in possession of alleged stolen items, seen at the location of the theft, and wrote a written confession; Jury found client not guilty in what may have been a case of “jury nullification.”

 

Client had worked for a man who made various tobacco knives and such paraphernalia. Client was seen at the business the night of the theft and according to police was observed at a Scott County flea market the next day selling some of what was alleged to be the same unique items taken from the Nicholas County employer. When interviewed by police, client wrote a short confession admitting that he stole the items. At trial, client testified that he wrote the confession because the KSP officer told him that, IF, he wrote the confession, the officer would throw away certain controlled substances which were found in client's possession when he was arrested. We subpoenaed the KSP trooper to bring to the trial the controlled substances. In cross examination, we elicited testimony from the trooper that the substances had never been sent to a lab, were in the trunk of his car and further that the trooper had no legal authority to be in possession of illegal substances which were not properly a part of any charge or investigation. The jury found the client not guilty on all counts. In honesty, I thought from the beginning and, in retrospect, that the evidence appeared overwhelming of guilt and this may be one of those rare cases of “jury nullification”---cases where a jury believes a defendant is guilty but finds them not guilty because they didn't like the case.

 

Client found not guilty of Murder by Harrison County Jury

 

Client was charged with Murder after a badly decomposed body was found in rural Harrison County. Investigation revealed that client and the deceased had come to Kentucky from Florida and stayed in an abandoned house. A witness told police that she had seen client about the time of the murder with blood on his shoes. A trail of blood was found from the house to the client's vehicle. Following a multi day trial the jury found client not guilty.

 

Client found not guilty of reckless homicide (vehicular homicide).

 

Client was charged with reckless homicide following a head on collision that killed a teenage girl. Client tested positive for alcohol but it was below the legal limit. This case turned in large part on the testimony of accident reconstruction experts which were not completely conclusive as to speed and location of the vehicles at the time of the collision, along with our argument of reasonable doubt. Jury found client not guilty.

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Client charged with driving with no insurance; after appeals through the Courts the Kentucky Supreme Court agreed and reversed client's conviction

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Client was charged with operating a motor vehicle without insurance which because of his prior offenses resulted in a jail sentence. Client was the operator of the vehicle but not the owner of the vehicle. We appealed the conviction to the Circuit Court which agreed with us that the operator could not be convicted under the statute. The prosecution appealed to the Court of Appeals which reversed the Circuit Court and reinstated client's conviction. We sought discretionary review in the Supreme Court which by a 5-2 decision agreed with our position and finally dismissed the charge against out client.

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Client found not guilty of promoting drugs in the county jail

 

Client was a prisoner in the Bourbon County Jail. A jail deputy said that he saw client throw what appeared to be marijuana into a trash basket. The jail deputy recovered the material and charged client with promoting contraband, a felony. At trial, we challenged the jail deputy's credibility and brought in evidence of the existence of a grand jury investigation into the jail for sex, drugs and other internal housekeeping matters. Jury found client not guilty.

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Client charged with felony cultivating of a field of marijuana; Jury found client not guilty of cultivating and awarded a fine for possession of marijuana.

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Client was charged with cultivation of a field of marijuana plants located by a national guard air raid. Client was found in possession of a 'greenhouse' of sorts and numerous marijuana books, and growing materials. At trial, we subpoenaed the first and last persons who lived on the road which dead ended into the Licking River in Robertson County. Those persons were upstanding citizens and testified that they never noticed any unusual traffic or other activity by client or others. KSP and prosecutors placed large stacks of materials they found at client's home in the courtroom in front of the jury. The large quantity of paraphernalia included such things as books entitled 'cooking with cannabis'. Their efforts backfired at trial as we demonstrated that each of the items was more consistent with marijuana for personal use rather than cultivation with an intent to sell. Jury found client not guilty of felony cultivation and awarded a fine for possession of marijuana.

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Client found not guilty of fleeing and evading police/Persistent Felony Offender

 

Client was charged with fleeing and evading police and persistent felony offender. Police said that they attempted a traffic stop on a car which they knew had been driven by client.  Officers testified that they had seen the client before and recognized him as the driver of the car which led them on the chase in Montgomery County. We presented evidence of the tinting of the vehicle windows which prevented a clear view of the driver and that police failed to obtain a video from the gas station where the chase began. We made multiple efforts to put into evidence information that the lead officer was himself accused in unrelated cases with either falsifying testimony and improperly making charges against a murder defendant in an unrelated case. The judge sustained nearly all of the Commonwealth's continuing objections. I felt the Court was incorrect in the rulings and that the Commonwealth's persistent objections were not well taken. It is my belief that the jury sympathized with our predicament and concluded that the prosecution was hiding something. Combined with police failures to obtain the video from the gas station, along with identification issues, the jury found client not guilty.

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