On the Beat in the Bluegrass

By JOE BIESK

Associated Press Writer

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — A death row inmate will have a hearing to determine whether he had a secret deal with a judge before copping to the gruesome 1989 murder of a Laundromat worker, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

Donald H. Johnson claims he was coerced into pleading guilty to his role in the gruesome 1989 stabbing death of 62-year-old Helen Madden. Johnson claims he thought he would get life in prison without parole for 25 years if he pleaded guilty.

“We are happy that we won the claim we won,” said David Harshaw, Johnson’s attorney. “We are looking forward to a hearing.”

The 41-year-old Johnson pleaded guilty in June 1994 to murdering Madden, who was found stabbed to death at the coin-operated laundry where she worked. Madden had been stabbed more than 20 times, sexually assaulted and left to die. Johnson was sentenced to death in 1997.

Johnson claims he and his attorneys had an off-the-record deal with Floyd County Judge John David Caudill that he would avoid execution if he pleaded guilty.

Caudill denies the meeting occurred.

At issue is whether Johnson either had a deal or was led to believe that one was in place, Harshaw said.
Kentucky’s high court agreed, without opposition, that Johnson should have had a hearing on the alleged coercion before it was dismissed at trial.

The high court, however, denied some of Johnson’s other claims such as his contention that he had ineffective counsel at trial. He also claimed that he is mentally ill and incompetent to face execution.

“There has been no showing that Johnson is insane,” the court ruled.
Johnson should have a special judge appointed to oversee the hearing because Caudill will likely be a witness, the high court ruled.

In a different case, the court on Thursday upheld the death sentence of Melvin Lee Parrish, who murdered a pregnant woman and her 8-year old son in Louisville in 1997.