We have previously noted that Fayette County Commonwealth’s Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn had a history of giving accused murderers the opportunity to plead guilty to manslaughter instead, and get reduced sentences.

Miss Red Corn was a member of the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office in 2012, but was not the office holder at the time.

Man previously convicted in a deadly shooting faces murder charge in Lexington

by Christopher Leach | Friday, April 8, 2022 | 2:40 PM EDT | Updated: 3:12 PM EDT



Kenneth Waskins, photo by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record.

The Lexington Police Department has arrested a man accused of killing 38-year-old Wesley Brown on Breckenridge Street more than a year ago.

Kenneth Wadkins, 41, was taken into custody Friday morning, police said. He’s been charged with murder and is being held at the Fayette County Detention Center on a $500,000 bond, according to jail records.

On Jan. 21, 2021, police found Brown with a gunshot wound in the 500 block of Breckenridge Street after responding to a call of shots fired, according to police. Brown was taken to the hospital but died of his injuries two weeks later.

The incident was one of five fatal shootings in Lexington in January 2021. Wadkins previously faced a murder charge when he was arrested and accused of the 2010 killing of Rocardo Cole. His charge was later amended down to facilitation to manslaughter after accepting a plea deal. He was sentenced to five years in prison. Joseph Richardson, another defendant accused of killing Cole, pleaded guilty to reckless homicide. He was also sentenced to five years.

The victim’s family said at the time they didn’t feel justice was served, but prosecutors said they had trouble finding witnesses who saw the entire altercation that led to Cole’s death. The prosecution ultimately negotiated plea deals with both men after talking to witnesses and the defense.

This is what happens when a killer is treated leniently. While Mr Wadkins must be presumed innocent until proven guilty, if the charge against him is accurate, the only reason that Wesley Brown is dead is because Mr Wadkins was not in prison when he should have been, when he could have been had the Commonwealth’s Attorney been able to find sufficient witnesses to put him away for murder.

The Lexington Herald-Leader, of course, declined to publish Mr Wadkins’ mugshot. Given that Herald-Leader reporter Christopher Leach referred to viewing “jail records”, and it was from the Fayette County Detention Center’s public records that I obtained the photo, it’s obvious that Mr Leach saw the mugshot, and could have used it, were it not for the stupid McClatchy Mugshot Policy.

That policy is meant, supposedly, to protect those accused but not convicted, but Mr Wadkins was an already convicted felon. This is the kind of man who, if you see him coming toward you on the sidewalk, you should be on your guard, and cross the street if you can, but the Herald-Leader doesn’t want the people of Lexington to have that information.

Will Miss Red Corn be able to put Mr Wadkins away for murder this time? Will she even try? After all, she allowed Xavier Hardin to plead guilty to manslaughter, when his killing of Kenneth Bottoms, Jr, was caught on a security camera.