We have previously said that the problem is not, as the left tell us, “mass incarceration,” but that not enough people are incarcerated, for not a long enough time. We noted yesterday that had the criminal justice system treated Aramis Murray seriously in the multiple times he had been arrested between July 27, 2017 and February 22, 2018, he might have been behind bars on April 23, 2018, the day he murdered Jason Lemer Smith, and wouldn’t now be looking at spending 25 years behind bars. Had the criminal justice system treated Mr Murray seriously, Mr Smith might still be alive today.

In the end, the criminal justice system did Mr Murray no favors; by treating him leniently, they gave him the opportunity to get himself in worse trouble.

And so we come to the case of Cody Allen Arnett, whom we have previously mentioned. Mr Arnett was convicted for two robberies in Lexington, on August 7, 2015, and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. As early as June 26, 2018 he was recommended for parole, and was scheduled to be released on August 1, 2018. This would mean that he served a week less than three years for his fifteen year sentence. Within 76 days of his release, Mr Arnett was arrested for the forcible rape at knifepoint of a Georgetown College coed, at a time in which he could have and should have still been in prison. Mr Arnett had five violent felony offenses on his record. Mr Arnett was only able to rape his victim because the Parole Board let him out early.

Mr Arnett’s trial had been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but he was finally brought before the bar in July of 2021.^[1]I would have caught this story earlier, but the Lexington Herald-Leader, which reported on the original charge, never reported on Mr Arnett’s trial or conviction.

Jury hands Arnett six consecutive life sentences

By Kyle Woosley | Georgetown News-Graphic | July 30, 2021



Cody Allen Arnett

Cody Alan Arnett was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences after jury found him guilty on seven charges relating to the rape of a Georgetown College student in 2018.

After less than two hours of deliberation, a jury found Arnett guilty on seven counts — one count of first-degree burglary, three counts of first-degree rape, two counts of first-degree sodomy and one count of first-degree tampering with physical evidence.

Following the verdict, the jury went back into deliberation for 15 minutes and found Arnett guilty on an additional first-degree persistent felony offender charge. State law prohibits the jury of knowing prior convictions as it might prejudice the jury, therefore these charges were not presented prior to the other charges. Arnett had previously been convicted of three felonies.

The trial concluded Tuesday afternoon after emotional testimony from the victim and her parents. Previously the victim’s roommates, first responders, investigators and forensic experts testified. Arnett also testified as his defense team’s one and only witness.

As the verdict was read, Arnett was chewing gum and grinned when the persistent felony offender charge was read. Commonwealth Attorney Sharon Muse also said Arnett winked and smiled at the victim as he exited the court room following his sentencing.

In her opening statement to the jury at sentencing, Muse said she was seeking maximum sentencing on each charge. Because Arnett was found guilty of the persistent felony offender charge, she was able to ask the jury to sentence him to life in prison on six of the seven charges he was facing. This excluded the tampering with physical evidence charge, which could only be a maximum sentence of 20 years. The jury went with this recommendation and gave Arnett the maximum 20-year sentence.

Arnett’s defense team attempted to blame his rough childhood, having several family members and a close friend testifying during sentencing on his behalf. The defense begged for “empathy” and “mercy” to the jury.

Oh, the poor baby! He had a “rough childhood!” Well, now he’s going to have a rough rest of his worthless life, living behind bars and barbed wire, which is exactly what he deserves.

There’s more at the original, including a parole officer’s statement that, regardless of the sentence, Mr Arnett would be eligible for parole in twenty years. But, perhaps if the previous parole board hadn’t shown Mr Arnett “empathy” and “mercy,” he’d have still been in prison on September 23, 2018, when he broke into the coed’s apartment and raped her, repeatedly, at knifepoint. The victim would not have been harmed, not have been raped, and Mr Arnett would not be looking at spending the rest of his miserable life in jail.

The Kentucky Parole Board failed! They failed to protect the victim, and they did no favors for Mr Arnett. If they hadn’t let him out early, he would still be looking at a future in which he’d eventually be released. The Parole Board members who decided to release Mr Arnett, despite his previous, violent record, should be held accountable for their decision. Quite frankly, they need to be locked up right beside him!

As for Mr Arnett’s victim? She’s a strong young woman, who has come forth to fight!

‘I’m ready for my voice to be heard’: Georgetown rape survivor discusses trial and resilience

Woman speaks publicly for first time since attack

by Leigh Searcy | August 2, 2021 | 7:00 PM EDT | Updated: August 3, 2021 | 11:22 AM EDT

GEORGETOWN (LEX 18) — In the nearly three years since a rape was reported at Georgetown College, the name of the woman who was attacked had not been released. Now, after the man accused was convicted on multiple counts, Ava Stokes says she wants to show the public — and others who’ve been through a similar nightmare — that she’s a survivor, not a victim.



Leigh Searcy (L) interviews Ava Stokes. From LEX18.com. Click to enlarge.

On the night of Sept. 23, 2018, Stokes, then an 18-year-old Georgetown College freshman, told police she was held at knife-point and raped multiple times by a stranger who wandered in through the unlocked door of her student housing unit.

As is typical in sexual assault cases, Stokes’ name was kept largely private during the investigation and the trial that followed. A recent interview with LEX 18 was the first time she’s spoken about what happened publicly outside of a courtroom.

“Now I’m ready for my voice to be heard,” Stokes said. “I want other survivors to know that you are allowed to be proud of yourself for surviving something like this, you’re allowed to feel angry and want justice.”

Stokes survived not only the rape but the reliving of the gruesome details of that assault in front of a courtroom of people as she took the stand at 35-year-old Cody Arnett’s July jury trial.

“I’m not gonna lie, that was the hardest thing I ever had to do, especially with my family in there and describing the awful things he did to me for hours,” Stokes told LEX 18.

There’s more at the original, including the video of Leigh Searcy’s interview with Miss Stokes. She’s a strong woman, and is trying to help other women who are victims of monsters like Mr Arnett. Miss Stokes survived the rape because she was able to seize the knife and she stabbed Mr Arnett a few times. As he fled the apartment, wounded, he was apprehended.

And Miss Stokes asks the obvious question: why did the Parole Board release Mr Arnett so early? Why did they release a man with five previous violent felony convictions and think he’d somehow straighten up and fly right? She didn’t ask the question I have asked: why shouldn’t the members of the Parole Board who decided to let that cretin out early be held accountable for the consequences of their decision? Why shouldn’t they be locked up right next to the violent criminal they set free, the rapist they helped to create?

A crime like this leaves all sorts of chaos in its wake. Miss Stokes has alleged that Georgetown College did not do enough to protect students, and her volleyball coaches and other staff wanted to minimize the fallout from the crime. Why, Heaven forfend! it might have discouraged some other potential students from matriculating there!

There have been a whole lot of people who have not done the right thing in this case, when the right thing to do has been so blatantly obvious.