Police and courts in the Lexington, Ky., area
LONDON, Ky. — A former state trooper has chosen to not contest charges against him in the beating of a man in southeastern Kentucky.
The Times Tribune of Corbin reported James Phillip Moore entered an Alford plea to a charge of fourth-degree assault - a plea which does not admit guilt but acknowledges the state has sufficient evidence for a conviction.
At a hearing on Monday in London, Moore pleaded guilty to a charge of official misconduct.
Continue reading the full story.
GRAYSON, Ky. (WSAZ) — State troopers in Kentucky say a man who was driving under the influence is lucky to be alive.
Kentucky State Police say 44-year-old Charles Kouns of Olive Hill was driving north on Damon Branch Road near Grayson when he lost control, entered a creek and hit natural gas line.
Read the full story at WSAZ.com
Central Kentucky Bureau
Kentucky State Police are investigating the death of a man from a gunshot wound Sunday night.
Shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday, troopers responded to a disturbance where shots were fired on Charlie Norris Road in eastern Madison County.
Upon their arrival, the troopers found one man dead, a state police release said. State police have not released the victim’s name, but an autopsy was to be conducted Monday in Frankfort.
Detectives Brian Reeder and Bill Collins are conducting the death investigation.
By Cassondra Kirby-Mullins
ckirby@herald-leader.com
HAZARD — Police have arrested an Eastern Kentucky man for shooting two others in Perry County.
Jerry W. Wooton, 38, of Hazard, was arrested by Kentucky State Police on Friday. He was charged with two counts of first-degree assault and put in the Kentucky River Regional Detention Center.
Kentucky State Police in Hazard received an anonymous call at 8 p.m. Thursday from a man who said someone had been shot on Ladder Branch Road in Combs in Perry County.
When they arrived, state police and emergency medical officials found Clyde Haynes Jr. and Thomas Roberts Jr. wounded, police said. They were transported to the Appalachian Regional Healthcare hospital in Hazard and then airlifted to the University of Kentucky Medical Center.
There was no information available on their conditions Friday.
The Associated Press
WARSAW — A northern Kentucky man has been charged with manslaughter after his wife died in an accident police attribute to his driving drunk.
Kentucky State Police say the crash happened about 4:30 a.m. Sunday when 55-year-old Eugene Reynolds was driving west on Ky. 16., Kentucky State Police said. The Kentucky Enquirer reported that Reynolds ran off the road and into a ditch. The car then struck a tree.
Reynolds, who was wearing a seat belt, suffered only minor injuries. He was taken to St. Luke Hospital West in Florence.
His wife, 62-year-old Judy Reynolds, was trapped in the car and died at the scene. She was not wearing a seat belt.
Eugene Reynolds has been charged with second-degree manslaughter and driving under the influence.
By Valarie Honeycutt Spears and Steve Lannen
vhoneycutt@herald-leader.com
The final autopsy report released Friday on an immigrant who died in August at the Franklin County Regional Jail while she was waiting to be deported confirms the preliminary finding that she hung herself.
Ana Romero
But Franklin County Coroner Will Harrod said he will continue to scrutinize Ana Romero Rivera’s case: The autopsy report from the state chief medical examiner will only be one piece of his investigation to determine what happened at the jail prior to the suicide on Aug. 22.
The final autopsy report raises other questions. In addition to finding that Romero died of asphyxiation, as a result of the hanging, the final autopsy report said she had abrasions on both hands.
Harrod said he saw the abrasions when he pronounced her dead, but he did not know what caused them. Romero had been placed in isolation for not eating just before her death.
Despite the fact that she was in isolation for not eating, there were signs that she had eaten prior to her death: Romero had “Congestion of the lungs with foreign vegetable material within the bronchi,” according to the report.
The report describes her as “well-nourished” at five-feet-one and 118 pounds.
Harrod said Friday that in addition to subpoenaing Kentucky State Police records of its investigation into Romero’s death, he has also subpoenaed jail and records of the emergency medical technicians who transported her to the hospital.
Kentucky State Police Trooper Ron Turley said KSP will close its investigation as soon as it receives a copy of the autopsy report.
The autopsy report said Romero had a substance called amitriptyline, an anti-depressant, in her system.
Romero’s family called for an investigation into her death because they did not think she committed suicide, and were concerned about how she was treated at the jail.
She complained of being sick and vomiting prior to her death.
The attorney representing Romero’s family, Matthew Pippin of Shelbyville, did not return calls for comment.
Franklin County Jailer Billy Roberts has not responded to questions of why Romero was in isolation or whether she had received medical treatment prior to her death. Roberts did not return calls for comment.
Though Romero was in the Franklin County jail, she was technically in federal custody after pleading guilty to immigration fraud.
On Aug. 22, the day she was pronounced dead, she was going to be transferred to ICE custody for deportation, ICE officials said.
Herald-Leader Staff Report
Kentucky State Police are searching for a man who failed to return to the Johnson County jail Tuesday from a work release, authorities said Wednesday.
Andrew M. Lee, 27, walked away from work at the Paintsville Recreation Center Tuesday afternoon, state police said. Information about his original charges was not immediately available.
Lee is about 5-feet-3, 140 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.
Anyone with information about the inmate should call state police at (606) 433-7711.
By Valarie Honeycutt Spears
vhoneycutt@herald-leader.com
Franklin County Coroner Will Harrod plans to subpoena police records to help determine how a Salvadoran immigrant died at the Franklin County Regional Jail while awaiting deportation.
Ana Romero
Harrod said Tuesday that he was called to the hospital, not the jail, so he was unable to investigate the scene where Ana Romero Rivera died.
Harrod says he will review state police records, photographs and interviews.
Romero, 44, had been placed in isolation for not eating just before her death, and a preliminary autopsy shows she died of asphyxia by hanging. Police are investigating the death as a suicide.
Harrod said that, in addition to police records, he is waiting for toxicology results and a final autopsy report.
Also this week, representatives with Immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed more information on the status of Romero’s deportation.
Though she was in the Franklin County jail, she was technically in the custody of U.S. marshals after pleading guilty to immigration fraud.
On Aug. 22, the day she was pronounced dead, she was going to be transferred to ICE custody for deportation.
ICE officials said via e-mail and in a phone interview that Romero would not have remained in the Franklin County jail. Once in ICE custody, she probably would have been transported to one of the four county jails in Illinois or southern Wisconsin that the Chicago ICE office uses.
Several factors would have played into deciding when she returned to El Salvador. Those include whether she would have waived the right to see an immigration judge, whether she had proper travel documents to return and the time of the next ICE-arranged flight to El Salvador.
Herald-Leader staff writer Steve Lannen contributed to this report.
By Valarie Honeycutt Spears
vhoneycutt@herald-leader.com
Franklin Commonwealth’s Attorney Larry Cleveland said Tuesday that he will review the Kentucky State Police investigation into the death of a Salvadoran immigrant at the Franklin County Jail to see if he should take further action.
Ana Romero
Ana Romero Rivera, 44, was awaiting deportation at the jail when she died Aug. 22. Family members said that she had been placed in isolation for not eating just before her death.
“It’s a curious matter when anyone dies in custody,” Cleveland told the Herald-Leader.
A preliminary autopsy report said that Romero hanged herself by the neck with a sheet.
“I don’t have the resources to conduct my own investigation,” said Cleveland. “I will ask for the state police files when they complete their investigation.”
Cleveland has the authority to ask for a grand jury review of the case.
Earlier this month, a Bourbon County grand jury indicted the county jailer and his deputy on charges, including some stemming from allegations that staffers had tampered with documents related to the death of an inmate.
Cleveland said he has not yet talked to Kentucky State Police about their investigation.
Trooper Ron Turley, the spokesman for the Kentucky State Police at Frankfort, and Franklin County Jailer Billy Roberts did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment.
The preliminary autopsy report, released earlier this month by the state medical examiner’s office, says that Romero died of asphyxia by hanging.
Romero’s family and their attorney, Matthew Pippin of Louisville, have called for an investigation of events at the jail before her death.
Mario Aguilar, her brother-in-law, has said that her deportation was imminent, but that for some reason it had been stalled.
Aguilar said Romero had telephoned several times from the jail saying her stomach hurt and she was vomiting. She said the food smelled bad and that something was wrong with it.
According to a dispatch transcript from the Frankfort Police Department, obtained through an open records request, staff at the jail made a 911 call about 11:15 p.m. Aug. 21, requesting an ambulance for Romero because she was not breathing and a CPR unit was assisting. At 11:19 p.m., “jail staff advised she hung herself and was not breathing.”
The medical examiner’s report says the jail took Romero to the hospital late Aug. 21. She was pronounced dead about 2:40 a.m. Aug. 22.
The preliminary autopsy report, which was given to Franklin County Coroner Will Harrod, says the manner of death is still pending because the toxicology report and the circumstances of death are unknown.
Congress has recently demanded that more information be made public about the dozens of deaths in jails and prisons among those awaiting deportation.
The New York Times recently reported that at least 71 people set for deportation died in custody from 2004 to May 2008. Advocates are calling for improved health care and suicide prevention measures for the detainees.
Meanwhile, Romero’s family has decided to seek the opinion of former state medical examiner George Nichols II because they were concerned that officials were not aggressively investigating the case.
Romero, who came to Kentucky from El Salvador three years ago, was arrested Jan. 14 by state police after giving federal immigration officials a false identification card. Aguilar said officers were looking for another suspect when they knocked on Romero’s door.
As a result of the January charges, Romero spent five months in the Shelby County jail and was transferred to the Franklin County Regional Jail in May, where she stayed the last four months. Romero entered a guilty plea Aug. 7. She was required to pay a $100 fine, but she did not receive additional jail time.
The Associated Press
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — A Kentucky man wanted for sex crimes involving a child has been captured in Huntsville.
The U.S. Marshall’s Fugitive Task Force said in a statement Thursday, 35-year-old Larry Wayne Kendall was taken into custody Wednesday at a house on 10th Street.
Kentucky State Police said Kendall is accused of fleeing the state to avoid prosecution on sex charges. Kendal faces multiple counts of rape, sexual abuse and sodomy.
Officers said four children, ages 2,3,7 and 10 were also in the residence. All were placed in the custody of state social workers.
Kendall was taken to Metro Jail where he awaits extradition.
The latest from Commonwealth's Attorney Ray Larson
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