When a guy has ten separate mugshots listed in the Fayette County Detention Center, all since July 28, 2015, I think it’s fair to say that he just plain likes jail!

Lexington police find man dead while responding to a shooting call. Suspect later arrested

Sean Smith. Photo by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record.

by Christopher Leach | Friday, August 5, 2022 | 6:44 AM EDT | Updated: 11:02 AM EDTLexington police have arrested a suspect in connection to an overnight fatal shooting.

Police said Sean Smith, 53, has been charged with murder and wanton endangerment. Fayette County Detention Center records say Smith was booked in at 8:43 a.m. Friday and is being held without a bond.

The shooting happened around 1:50 a.m. Friday in the 1800 block of Augusta Drive, according to Lt. Joe Anderson with the Lexington Police Department. Officers were responding to a report of a subject down and found a dead male with a gunshot wound on scene, according to Anderson.

Anderson said Friday morning that police were still investigating the shooting and working to determine what led up to the incident.

It’s the city’s 28th homicide of 2022, which is nine short of the annual record set last year.

Read more at: https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/crime/article264210241.html#storylink=cpy.

Sadly, this story is mostly unremarkable, except for the very last sentence. The article stated, “It’s the city’s 28^th homicide of 2022, which is nine short of the annual record set last year.” What was not mentioned is the fact that the 28^th homicide of 2021 occurred on October 5^th, two full months later in the year. 28 murders as of 216^th day of the year equals one homicide every 7.62 days, putting the city on track for 47 or 48 (47.31 actually) killings for 2022, in a city in which even the Herald-Leader has reported that Commonwealth’s Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn has been “mediating” pleas and sentences in 19 out of 25 murder cases, allowing killers to receive sentences as light as ten years.

KRS §507.020 Murder is a capital offense, which, under KRS §532.030 carries possible sentences of:

• death
• imprisonment for life without benefit of probation or parole
• imprisonment for life without benefit of probation or parole until he has served a minimum of twenty-five (25) years of his sentence
• imprisonment for a term of not less than twenty (20) years nor more than fifty (50) years

KRS §508.060 Wanton endangerment in the first degree is a Class D felony, which, under KRS §532.060 carries a sentence of one (1) to five (5) years in the state penitentiary.

No need for Miss Red Corn to offer Mr Smith a sweetheart plea deal; since he obviously likes jail, might as well keep him in jail for the rest of his miserable life. At least that way he won’t be a menace to the innocent people in the city.

There is no cure for pedophilia, and any sentence less than life imprisonment simply means that a convicted pedophile will offend again.

Previous offender charged with dozens of sex crime offenses in Lexington, records show

by Christopher Leach | Thursday, August 4, 2022 | 8:24 AM EDT

William Wehking, photo by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record.

A registered sex offender in Lexington was booked into the Fayette County Detention Center Wednesday afternoon on dozens of charges related to sexual activity with a minor, according to court and jail records.William Wehking, 35, has been charged with 25 counts of possessing matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor and one count of distributing obscene matter to minors, use of a minor in a sexual performance and procuring or promoting the use of a minor in a sexual performance, according to jail records. He’s being held on a $50,000 bond.

Under the McClatchy Mugshot Policy, what my best friend used to call the Lexington Herald-Liberal did not publish the suspect’s mugshot, but, at The First Street Journal we most certainly do. The suspect’s mugshot is a public record available from the Fayette County Detention Center, from which I obtained it.

According to his arrest citation, Wehking knowingly engaged in sexual conversations with a 12-year-old girl. The Lexington Police Department became aware of the activity after being tipped off by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in Illinois, where the victim resides.

Wehking and the victim communicated over Snapchat and text messaging, according to court documents. Investigators got a search warrant for his cell phone and found 25 images and/or videos of minors under the age of 12 engaging in sexual activity. Wehking admitted to the illegal behavior as well as exposing his genitals to the victim in a video chat, according court documents.

Read more here.

Mr Wehking was already on the sex offender registry, non-compliantly due to an unverified address, for a conviction for sexual abuse in Illinois; that victim was 16 years old.

According to the suspect data from the Fayette County Detention Center, the 5’8″, 257 lb Mr Wehking is charged with

• KRS §531.335 Possession or viewing of matter portraying a sexual performance by a minor under 12 years of age, 25 counts, a Class C felony
• KRS §531.030 Distribution of obscene matter to minors, first offense, 1 count, a Class A misdemeanor
• KRS §531.320 Promoting a sexual performance by a minor, 1 count, a Class B felony
• KRS §531.310 Use of a minor in a sexual performance, 1 count, a Class B felony

Under KRS §532.060:

• the sentence for a Class B felony is not less than ten (10) years nor more than twenty (20) years imprisonment
• the sentence for a Class C felony is not less than five (5) years nor more than ten (10) years imprisonment

Under KRS §532.090:

• the sentence for a Class A misdemeanor is imprisonment for a term not to exceed twelve (12) months.

According to my precise calculations, the distinguished Mr Wehking is facing up to 291 years in the state penitentiary, and, if convicted on all counts, that’s exactly the sentence he should receive. Lock him up, and throw away the key!

Of course, that’s unlikely to happen, isn’t it? If convicted on all charges, Mr Wehking could get as little as 10 years in prison, the minimum of the Class B felonies, and be sentenced to have all sentences run concurrently rather than consecutively. The Herald-Leader noted how Fayette County Commonwealth’s Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn has been using “mediation” to secure plea bargains:

From murder to manslaughter: How felony mediation works to reduce backlogged caseload

By Taylor Six | July 18, 2022 | 1:00 PM EDT

While the resolution of some recent Fayette County homicide cases has taken years, the new use of mediation in Fayette County has allowed some cases to move much quicker, including the case of a 27-year-old man who has admitted guilt in a deadly shooting that happened just over one year ago.

Danzell Cruse was originally charged with murder, possessing a handgun as a convicted felon and being a persistent felony offender following the shooting of 38-year-old Jocko Green in a parking lot outside of an apartment complex in July 2021.

After Cruse’s defense and prosecutors came together to mediate the case with a retired judge, Cruse pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter. He will be sentenced in August.

Felony mediations were only recently introduced and encouraged in Fayette County in April 2021 by Kentucky Supreme Court Judge John Minton, in efforts to reduce a backlog in criminal cases caused by COVID-19. The pandemic significantly slowed down the progress on the courts system.

Since that time, Fayette Commonwealth’s Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn said there have been 25 mediations, 19 of which involved murder charges.

Under KRS §507.020, murder is a capital offense. Under KRS §532.030, the sentence for a capital offense is either:

• death
• imprisonment for life without benefit of probation or parole
• imprisonment for life without benefit of probation or parole until he has served a minimum of twenty-five (25) years of his sentence
• imprisonment for a term of not less than twenty (20) years nor more than fifty (50) years

Simply put, the Commonwealth’s Attorney could have put those 19 killers away for the rest of their miserable lives, or until they were so elderly that they were little risk to society if they ever got out.

• KRS §507.030 Manslaughter in the first degree is a Class B felony, which, as noted above, carries a sentence of 10 to 20 years in prison.
• KRS §507.040 Manslaughter in the second degree is a Class C felony, the sentence for which is 5 to 10 years behind bars.

In other words, the Commonwealth’s Attorney negotiated plea bargains which sets the maximum sentence at what the absolute minimum sentence for murder would be. But those murderers manslaughterers weren’t usually getting that twenty year maximum sentence:

• James Ragland III was charged with murder for the killing of Iesha Edwards outside a city strip club, but was allowed to plead down to manslaughter and sentenced to ten years in prison. Mr Ragland will be back on the streets when he is just 38 years old, while Miss Edwards will still be dead.
• Malachi Jackson was charged with murder for the killing of 15-year-old Kevin Olmeda, but was allowed to plead down to first degree manslaughter, for which the Commonwealth’s Attorney recommended a sentence of 15 years in prison, and which was accepted. Some consecutive sentencing on other charges means that Mr Jackson’s maximum release date would be May 26, 2043, when he would be 41 years old, but his anticipated release date is December 16, 2039, when he will be 37 years old. And he will be eligible for parole as early as February 26, 2031, when he will be just 29 years old!
• Jemel Barber was charged with murder for killing 40-year-old Tyrese Clark, but was allowed to plead down to manslaughter and sentenced to twenty years in the big house. He has a minimum expiration of sentence date of February 2, 2035, and maximum of July 1, 2037, but will first be eligible for parole on April 1, 2030, when he will be just 31 years old.
• Xavier Hardin was charged with murder for the killing of Kenneth Bottom Jr, a killing caught on a security camera, which ought to be open-and-shut for the Commonwealth’s Attorney, but no, she “mediated” down a plea to first degree manslaughter, for which he received a sentence of ten years, plus two consecutive sentences fore other crimes, but will still be eligible for parole on February 16, 2029, when he will be just 28 years old.

There are more such examples, but the point is obvious: if Miss Red Corn is willing to let murderers plead down to manslaughter, and have a chance to get out of prison while still relatively young, can we really expect her to treat Mr Wehking seriously? And if Mr Wehking is allowed to plead down and get a light sentence, can we hold Miss Red Corn accountable if he reoffends?

The Lexington Police Department has captured the suspect in a seven-month-old homicide; better late than never!

Lexington murder suspect arrested 7 months after deadly shooting, records show

by Christopher Leach | Tuesday, June 21, 2022 | 7:12 AM EDT | Updated: 1:04 PM EDT

Robert Okorley. Photo from Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record.

A Lexington murder suspect was arrested Monday evening in connection to a 2021 killing on Main Street, according to court documents.

Robert Okorley, 40, is facing charges of murder, attempted murder, second degree assault, criminal mischief and possessing a handgun as a convicted felon, according to his arrest citation. He’s accused of killing Jesse Jimenez, 32, and shooting another on Nov. 5, 2021.

He’s being held at the Fayette County Detention Center on an $885,000 bond, according to court records.

Lexington police said they initially responded to a call of shots fired in the area around Main Street and Oliver Lewis Way early in the morning, but they didn’t find anything unusual. Not long after, a man showed up at the University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital suffering from a gunshot wound, Lexington police Lt. Chris Van Brackel said at the time.

When police learned that the victim man was in the 700 block of West Main Street when he was injured, they went back to investigate further and found the man later identified as Jimenez dead in an apartment on the upper level of the building. The building is occupied on the lower level by a web design and marketing agency.

According to the report, Mr Okorley got into a fight with a third person, and after the fight was over, he pulled a gun and attempted to shoot the man, but hitting Mr Jimenez instead. After that, a fourth man ran out of the building and jumped into the bed of a moving pickup truck. Mr Okorley then fired at the departing vehicle, wounding the driver in the arm. If Mr Okorley is indeed the perpetrator, he’s apparently not a very nice person.

Video footage captured the entire incident and clearly identified Okorley as the suspect, court documents say. Okorley was also identified as the suspect by an eyewitness.

Well, if they’ve got the whole thing on tape, and it clearly identifies Mr Okorley as the perpetrator, Commonwealth’s Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn will probably agree to a plea bargain down to manslaughter that lets him out in ten years, because that’s the kind of thing she does.

According to the Fayette County Detention Center’s records, Mr Okorley is facing charges of murder, assault in the 2nd degree, criminal mischief in the first degree, and possession of a handgun by a convicted felon. I am shocked, of course, that Mr Okorley (allegedly) violated state gun control laws.

Murder in Lexington, Kentucky, is a far, far different thing than in Philadelphia, to which I’ve paid a lot more attention, but Lexington is the closest real city to where I live since I’ve retired. Lexington doesn’t have more than a murder a day, but has seen ‘only’ 22 so far this year, while the City of Brotherly Love has 227 as of 11:59 PM EDT on Monday, June 13^th. In 2021, Lexington’s record 37 homicides, and a guesstimated population of 324,600, yields a murder rate of 11.40 per 100,000 population. Philadelphia’s 562 killings, and population estimated at 1,576,251, yields a homicide rate of 35.65 per 100,000 population, more than thrice Lexington’s.

Nevertheless, 22 homicides by June 14^th is significant, because the city didn’t see its 22^nd killing until July 20^th last year. The statistics become less telling, and the math more uncertain when the city is seeing ‘just’ 22 murders in 165 days, but the city is on pace to see 48 murders this year. I would not, however, bet more than €10 on that number, and I think, or at least hope, that my estimate will be on the high side.

‘Money talks.’ Why Lexington investigators are offering more cash for tips on homicide cases

by Taylor Six | Monday, June 13, 2022 | 1:18 PM EDT

Bluegrass Crime Stoppers is using its “healthy budget” to offer more money for people who provide tips that lead to arrests in homicide investigations, officials announced Monday.

In a press conference, representatives with Bluegrass Crime Stoppers and Lexington police said they are increasing tip rewards to $2,500 for information which leads to the arrest and closure of a homicide case. The rewards apply to 2022 homicides and the initiative will carry on for the next three months.

Last year Crime Stoppers solved eight homicides with tips that came in through their anonymous hotline, according to Katina May, director of Bluegrass Crime Stoppers. Lexington police have nine open homicide investigations for 2022, according to police data. . . . .

“People are scared, we get that. People are scared to come forward. When they have seen something or know something, all of that information is pieces to the puzzles,” (Lexington police detective Anthony) Delimpo said. “We are trying to give more of an incentive for people to come forward.”

There’s more at the original.

Still, there’s something sad about this: a good citizen who has information about a homicide or a shooting ought to provide the information freely, on his own, especially when the city has an anonymous tip line he can use. But if that can getr more bad guys off the streets, it’s worth it.

Just last Thursday we learned that Xavier Hardin, who murdered, oops, sorry, manslaughtered Kenneth Bottoms, Jr, in Fayette Mall would get out in 20 years, maximum^[1]His sentence was 22 years, but he has credit for 619 days already served., when he would still be just 41 years old, because Commonwealth’s Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn negotiated a plea deal, even though the murder was caught on security cameras. If Miss Red Corn thought she couldn’t win that kind of case at trial, she shouldn’t be a prosecutor.

When Mr Harden gets out of prison, Mr Bottoms will still be stone-cold graveyard dead.

Now we learn that Tonisha Hendrickson, who murdered, oops, sorry, manslaughtered a man, was sentenced to only ten years: Continue reading →

On March 12^th, we reported that Fayette County Commonwealth’s Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn had ‘negotiated’ another lenient plea bargain arrangement for a murderer.

Xavier Hardin, mugshot from Fayette County Detention Center, dated June 15, 2021, and is a public record.

Lexington man who committed deadly Fayette Mall shooting reaches plea deal. Here’s why

by Jeremy Chisenhall | Friday, March 11, 2022 | 12:19 PM EST | Updated: 1:06 PM EST

The man who shot and killed a 17 year old inside Fayette Mall in 2020 has reached an agreement with prosecutors to accept a conviction for manslaughter instead of murder, according to court records.

Xavier Hardin, 21, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, assault and wanton endangerment charges in the killing of Kenneth Bottoms Jr., after reaching a plea agreement earlier this week, according to court records. Hardin, who was 19 at the time of the incident, also injured two bystanders when he fired shots inside the mall on Aug. 23, 2020.

Fayette Commonwealth’s Attorney Lou Anna Red Corn said Hardin’s plea agreement was reached through mediation and Bottoms’ family was in agreement with the plea deal. The plea agreement accounted “for the facts of the case,” Red Corn said, which included that “both the defendant and Kenneth were carrying handguns that day at the mall.”

“There were video recordings of their encounter, and the defendant raised a claim of self-protection,” Red Corn said. “Regardless of the defendant’s claim, he injured innocent persons and put others in harm’s way when (he) started shooting. This is another tragic example of why teens should not be carrying guns in the first place.”

There’s more at the original here. Naturally, what my late best friend used to call the Lexington Herald-Liberal didn’t publish Mr Hardin’s photo, due to the stupid McClatchy mugshot policy, but The First Street Journal is not bound by that! Continue reading →