Police and courts in the Lexington, Ky., area
The Frankfort man charged with trying to pick up a prostitute in the presence of his young son while their family vacationed in August in Florida has rejected a plea deal, an official says.
The official in the Florida State Attorney’s office said John W. Phillips, 46, 205 Hiawatha Trail, appeared in Volusia County District Court Nov. 24.
Read more in the Frankfort State-Journal.
Fifth-Third Bank Robbery Suspect on Nov. 3, 2008
The Lexington man arrested in connection to an October robbery attempt at Fifth Third Bank in Frankfort has been indicted on first-degree robbery charges.
Elijah Daniel Gable, 25, of Lexington, had been indicted Nov. 5 in a sealed document and was arrested Friday. Prosecutors released information on his charges Wednesday.
Read the full story in the Frankfort State Journal
A candlelight vigil to mark the three-month anniversary of the death of a Salvadoran immigrant in custody is scheduled for next Friday.
Ana Romero
The vigil for Ana Romero is scheduled for 7:30 p.m., Nov. 21, at the Franklin County jail, 400 Coffee Tree Road, Frankfort.
The vigil will emphasize the need to find a speedier resolution to her case and comfort her family, according to a press release from Justice for Ana Romero and the Kentucky Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
Romero, who was being held at the Franklin County jail, was slated to be picked up and deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
On Aug. 21, she was found hanging in an isolation cell the night before ICE authorities were to pick her up.
A state police investigation concluded that Romero committed suicide. However, the Franklin County coroner and commonwealth’s attorney are investigating the cases.
For more information, www.anaromero.org.
EARLIER: Ana Romero coverage.
John Zambenini
Frankfort State-Journal
A Franklin County real estate developer has been arrested on drug trafficking charges after he was allegedly caught buying cocaine in Lexington for $19,000, according to police.
Ricky Layne Wentworth, 42, 2590 Bald Knob Road, is charged with conspiracy to traffic a controlled substance, according to Lexington metro police reports.
Police reports said Wentworth attempted to buy a kilo of cocaine from a police informant.
See full story in Frankfort State-Journal.
The Associated Press
FRANKFORT — A Death Row inmate will have a hearing to determine whether he had a secret deal with a judge before admitting to the 1989 murder of a Laundromat worker, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled Thursday.
Donald H. Johnson contends he was coerced into pleading guilty to his role in the stabbing death of Helen Madden, 62, and thought he would get life in prison without parole for 25 years if he did so.
“We are happy that we won the claim we won,” said David Harshaw, Johnson’s attorney. “We are looking forward to a hearing.”
Johnson, 41, pleaded guilty in June 1994 to murder in the death of Madden, who was found with fatal stab wounds at the laundry where she worked. She 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 allegation.
The Associated Press
LOUISVILLE — A federal judge has dismissed a challenge to Kentucky’s ban on transporting deer and elk into the state, saying the lawsuit was premature because a state court has already struck down the law.
U.S. District Judge Danny Reeves on Tuesday at least temporarily turned away a challenge to the law brought by the North American Deer Farmers Association.
Reeves, who is based in Frankfort, cited a ruling in April by McCracken Circuit Judge Craig Clymer that said the law was vague and therefore unconstitutional. Until there’s a final appellate ruling on the law in state court, any federal challenge is untimely, Reeves said.
Reeves wrote that it’s uncertain whether the law would be enforced if members tried to transport deer and elk along Kentucky roadways.
The dispute arose in September 2007 after officers from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife arrested Timothy Cory Looper of Livingston, Tenn., as he passed west of Paducah with a load of elk and deer.
The animals were headed from Hostetler Wildlife Farms in Miller, Mo., and destined for a hunting lodge in Tennessee, but the state destroyed the animals.
Looper was charged with six felony counts of illegally importing elk and deer into Kentucky. Looper challenged the indictment and law in state court and the Lake City, Minn.-based deer farmers association attacked the law in federal court.
Kentucky state law banned the importation of elk and deer to protect the state’s elk and white-tailed deer herds from chronic wasting disease. State officials had enforced the law to prohibit anyone from bringing deer or elk across state lines, even if the animals were destined for another state.
Violating the law is a felony, punishable by up to $10,000 in fines and five years in prison.
Looper attacked the law as being vague because it doesn’t give fair notice of what activities are prohibited or include language that would prevent arbitrary enforcement.
The deer farmers attacked the law on the grounds that it violates the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.
Lawyers for the state asked Reeves to dismiss the challenge in federal court because the constitutionality of the law was being questioned in state court and a final ruling had not been handed down.
The latest from Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson
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