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 →

We noted, just last week, on April 2^nd, 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. Well, here she goes again!

Suspects accused of killing 2 men in a Lexington gang retaliation take plea deals

by Jeremy Chisenhall | Wednesday, April 6, 2022 | 6:00 AM EDT



John George Boulder IV, photo by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record. Click to enlarge.

Four men have pleaded guilty to reduced charges for their involvement in a deadly daylight shooting that Lexington prosecutors say was a gang retaliation.

A Lexington gang planned to retaliate against two 18-year-olds because members of the group believed those two made “disparaging remarks” about a dead gang member, according to court records. Dwayne Slaughter and Darrian Webb, both 18 years old, died in the shooting on Oct. 19, 2019. All four suspects entered guilty pleas in Fayette Circuit Court Friday.

Three of the men who pleaded guilty in the deadly shooting are among the 14 people who have been indicted in a related organized crime case, according to court records. The fourth suspect hasn’t been criminally connected to the gang but was accused by a witness of being part of the same group.

The shooting happened on Oct. 19, 2019, at the intersection of Winchester Road and Seventh Street. De’Shaun Quantrell Armor, Sevion Mitchell and Kenneth Jakobe Jackson were in a vehicle driven by John George Boulder IV when they pulled up behind a vehicle with the two victims inside, according to court records.

Armor, Mitchell and Jackson were all armed, according to court records. The suspects opened fire and dozens of shots rang out in the middle of the intersection, leaving Slaughter and Webb dead, according to court records. A third person in the victims’ vehicle was injured but didn’t die.

There’s much more at the linked original; the mugshots were not included in the Lexington Herald-Leader original, but looked up and added by The First Street Journal. Mr Armor’s mugshot was not available.

These are some bad dudes! The Fayette County Detention Center had not one but six mugshots of Mr Boulder, from six separate arrests, the first dated September 9, 2017, not quite four months after his 18^th birthday.

Sevion Mitchell, photo by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record. Click to enlarge.

Mr Armor pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter, as well as one count each of tampering with evidence and evading capture. Prosecutors recommended seven years in prison for each manslaughter count and one year for each of his tampering and evading convictions.

Messrs Mitchell and Jackson, who were juveniles, 17, when the killings occurred, each pleaded guilty to two counts of manslaughter, with other charges against them dismissed, and the prosecution recommended that both be sentenced to seven years for each of their manslaughter convictions; again, no recommendation was made concerning whether the sentences run consecutively or concurrently. Depending upon how Fayette Circuit Judge Thomas L. Travis sets their sentences on June 15^th — he does not have to accept the prosecutors’ recommended sentences –these thugs could be out of jail while still in their twenties, still in their prime crime-committing years.

According to reporter Jeremy Chisenhall’s story, the shooting in the middle of an intersection, at busy Winchester Road and Seventh Street, by a Speedway gasoline station and mini-mart, left 37 shell casings recovered by investigators; these guys were firing and endangering more than just the two 18-year-old rival gang members, but bullets could have struck innocent bystanders as well.

Kenneth Jackson, photo by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record. Click to enlarge.

Under KRS §507.020, murder is a capital offense in Kentucky. Under KRS §532.030, the punishment for a capital offense shall be:

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

Miss Red Corn could have gotten these very bad guys off the streets for a long, long time. She could have gotten them locked up until they were at least middle-aged, possibly until they were elderly, or even gotten them locked up until they die. She could have done her duty to the citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky!

Instead, she followed her recent pattern, of taking the easy way out, by allowing negotiations which could have these criminals out early.

Lou Anna Red Corn, from her official biography page, and is a public record. Click to enlarge.

On January 19, 2022, Malachi Jackson, now 20 but 16 at the time of his crime, charged with the murder of 15-year-old Kevin Olmeda, was allowed by Miss Red Corn to plead guilty to first-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault, and first-degree criminal attempt to commit robbery. With a recommended sentence of 15 years by the prosecution, time already served taken into account, and the state minimum of 85% of sentence required, Mr Jackson could be out of jail by the age of 31.

On February 11, 2022, Jemel Barber, 23, was sentenced to twenty years for the killing of 40-year-old Tyrece Clark. Mr Barber was allowed to plead guilty to manslaughter and second-degree robbery, down from murder, by Miss Red Corn, and if he serves his full sentence, including time already served, he could be out by age 39.

On March 11, 2022, Xavier Hardin, 21, was allowed by Miss Red Corn to plead guilty to manslaughter, assault and wanton endangerment charges in the killing of Kenneth Bottoms Jr., 17, and charges of murder were dropped. The shooting was caught on security tape in Fayette Mall.

And here she goes again!

Lexington man gets 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in a deadly shooting

by Christopher leach | Friday, April 1, 2022 | 10:23 AM EDT

The man who shot and killed a 44-year-old man in March 2020 was sentenced to 10 years in prison on Friday.



Seantel Watson, via WKYT-TV.

Seantel Watson, 34, was originally charged with murder for shooting and killing Larry Steven Rose Jr. but was convicted of a lesser charge. Watson turned himself in one week after the deadly shooting. The charge was amended down to manslaughter when Watson accepted a guilty plea deal on Feb. 14, nearly two years after the shooting. The shooting took place on Smith Street near Transylvania University on March 6, 2020.

A call of shots fired came in shortly after 3 p.m. and Rose was pronounced dead just over 30 minutes later.

Prosecutors recommended he be sentenced to ten years, which Judge Thomas Travis accepted. The murderer manslaughterer received credit for the slightly more than two years he has already spent behind bars. Mr Watson, 34, if released after serving the state minimum of 85% of his sentence, could get out when he’s just 40 years old. His victim will still be dead.

I have to ask: at what point does the Commonwealth’s Attorney start prosecuting murderers for murder? At what point does Miss Red Corn stop treating killers leniently?

Oh, wait, I already know: Miss Red Corn will prosecute Bemjamin William Call to the full extent of the law, because he is accused of beating John Abner Tyler to death in a Lexington parking garage. The Herald-Leader ran four separate, sympathetic stories about the victim. Mr Abner was not another black male with a shady past, or a black dancer at a strip club, but a white man ‘married’ to another white man.

In Lexington, the sentence for killing someone depends on whom was killed.

It is a story reminiscent of something I’d find in The Philadelphia Inquirer: a lenient prosecutor letting a killer off easy.

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.

Messrs Hardin and Bottoms had a long-standing dislike for each other, a “beef” as Lexington Herald-Leader reporter put it. In Fayette Mall, Mr Harin is shown on surveillance video looking over his shoulders, as though worried he was being followed. Eventually Mr Bottoms and three men with him confronted Mr Hardin, and an argument ensued. One of Mr Bottoms’ friends tried to pull him away from the confrontation, but failed.

One witness testified to police that Bottoms spit on Hardin during the argument, according to court records. Another noted hearing expletives. Another said they heard Hardin ask, “You don’t think I’ll pull it out?”

As the argument intensified, bystanders started to flee, according to the video. Hardin then pulled a gun out of his waistband and fired.

In other words, Mr Hardin was not defending himself from a deadly assault, but pulled out his weapon and fired. Though Mr Bottoms was also armed, there’s nothing in the story to indicate that Mr Bottoms pulled out his gun.

According to the Fayette County Detention Center, Mr Hardin’s charges are:

• KRS §507.030: Manslaughter, First Degree, a Class B felony with a sentence of no less than ten years and no more than twenty.
• KRS §508.060: Wanton Endangerment, First Degree: Class D felony, with a sentence of one to five years in prison
• KRS §508.020: Assault, Second Degree, Class C felony, penalty at least five years to a maximum of ten years in prison
• KRS §508.030: Assault, Fourth Degree, Class A Misdemeanor, penalty imprisonment for up to 12 months.

Hardin is scheduled to be sentenced in May. He faces a maximum of 23 years in prison if his sentences are run consecutively, based on the sentencing recommendations made by prosecutors in the plea agreement. Prosecutors didn’t make a recommendation on whether or not Hardin’s sentences should run consecutively or at the same time.

If a judge decides to run all his sentences at the same time, he would have to serve at least eight and a half years, based on the prosecutors’ recommendations. He’s required by to serve at least 85 percent of the sentence given to him for his manslaughter conviction because it is a violent offense.

Of course, since Mr Hardin has been locked up since at least May 15, 2021, he has already served 301 days. The jail records are not clear; he was also arrested on August 24, 2020, the day after the murder, and if he was locked up since then, that would be an additional 200 days. He could serve as little as 7 years and 8 months, if locked up since May 15, 2021, or 7 years and one month if he has credit since August 24, 2020. Mr Hardin, who is 21 years old, could get out of prison when he’s still in his twenties!

Had Miss Red Corn not accepted a plea bargain arrangement, had charged him with murder, taken it to trial and gotten him convicted, he could be locked up for the rest of his miserable life, which would protect the citizens of Fayette County. The most we can expect, if the judge decides to run the sentences consecutively, is that he’d get out of jail at age 44, a prison-hardened criminal, and while Mr Bottoms is still stone-cold graveyard dead.

Miss Red Corn has a history of giving killers lenient plea bargains. That’s great for murderers; it’s not so great for the citizens of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

No, not that the victim was stupid — though he might have been — but that the man who (allegedly) killed him was stupid.

We noted, Saturday afternoon, Lexington’s sixth homicide of the year. Lexington Herald-Leader reporter updated her story at 4:02 PM on Monday, giving us more details:

Juan Carlos Linares, Photo by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record., Click to enlarge.

An arrest citation says a verbal altercation with Linares and two other people led to a physical altercation with Linares’ family and two others. At the end of the fight, Linares shot one of the victims, who was laying defenseless on the ground, according to court records.

Court records also say Humberto Saucedo-Salgado, who resides in Phoenix, Az., caused physical injuries to one of the victims with his hands and feet. That victim was taken to the emergency room and intubated due to his injuries.

You can read more here.

In other words, Juan Carlos Linares had won his fight, had beaten the still unidentified victim into defenselessness, and then decided, heck, why not, might as well just shoot the guy, right? That’s just plain stupidity.

The other two members of his ‘side’ of the fight, Oziel and Humberto Saucedo-Salgado, were charged with first degree assault, and released on $10,000 bail each. Mr Linares bond has been set at $750,000, and he’s still locked up. Even so, bail can be denied in Kentucky for persons charged with offenses for which capital punishment is possible.

Mr Linares’s record at the Fayette County Detention Center indicates that the only charge against him, as of 5:10, when I accessed the information, is murder, though it’s obvious the first-degree assault could be added.

Under KRS §508.010, Assault in the first degree is a Class B felony, punishable by no less than ten years and up to twenty years in the state penitentiary, along with a $1,000 to $10,000 fine. Under KRS §507.020, murder is a capital offense, though the penalty can be less than death. Under KRS §532.030, the penalty can be death, life without the possibility of parole, life with the possibility of parole after a minimum of 25 years in prison, or a twenty to fifty year sentence.

Mr Linares act of stupidity, (allegedly) murdering an already beaten foe, could, and should, have him locked behind bars for the rest of his miserable life. If he had just stopped with the beatdown, he’d have been looking at getting out of prison when he was 43 years old, at worst, certainly a long time behind bars. Now, he’s looking at spending the rest of his life behind bars.

Unless, of course, Fayette County’s Commonwealth’s Attorney Lou Ann Red Corn decides to let him plead down to a lesser offense, as she has done so many times recently. Such would not surprise me in the slightest.

Jemel Barber. Photo by Fayette County Detention Center, and is a public record.

2 died in a robbery, gunfight spree in Lexington. Shooter pleads in 1 case

by Jeremy Chisenhall | November 16, 2021 | 7:44 AM EST | Updated: 4:16 PM EST

A Central Kentucky man has pleaded guilty in one of two fatal shootings during a string of robberies and gunfights in Lexington.

Jemel Barber, 22, pleaded guilty last week to manslaughter and second-degree robbery more than four years after he shot and killed 40-year-old Tyrece Clark, according to court records. He was initially charged with murder and first-degree robbery, but his charges were amended down after a plea agreement was reached.

Barber told police after the deadly shooting on July 23, 2017, that he showed up at a Lexington motel with a rifle, intending to rob Clark of narcotics and/or money, according to court records.

But Clark started shooting after Barber knocked on his door, Barber told police, so he shot back. The plea agreement was reached after attorneys disputed whether or not Barber could claim self-defense. Barber maintained that Clark was the aggressor and his attorneys continued to blame Clark as the court case played out.

Mr Barber was sentenced today:

Central KY man sentenced to 20 years in prison on manslaughter, robbery charges

by Christopher Leach | Friday, February 11, 2022 | 10:26 AM EST

Interesting article title, that. If you follow the link, and hover on the article tab, you’ll see that the original working title was “Jemel Barber sentenced to prison for manslaughter and robbery.” The current title is far less specific; a “Central KY man” could be from Georgetown or Paris or Mt Sterling or Richmond. Why not “Lexington man”? Why go from the specific to the general? Could it be that almost everyone reading the name “Jemel Barber” would assume that Mr Barber is black?

The Lexington Herald-Leader, which had access to Mr Barber’s mugshot, once again chose not to publish it. The McClatchy Mugshot Policy states that it is concerned that mugshots of people accused of crimes follow them forever, even if they are acquitted, but Mr Barber pleaded guilty.

Jemel Barber, 23, was sentenced to 20 years in prison Friday morning by judge Thomas Travis on charges of manslaughter and second-degree robbery. Barber shot and killed 40-year-old Tyrece Clark during an attempted robbery at a Lexington motel in 2017, per court records.

Barber told police after the deadly shooting on July 23, 2017, that he showed up to the motel with a rifle, intending to rob Clark of narcotics and/or money, according to court records.

But Clark started shooting after Barber knocked on his door, Barber told police, so he shot back, killing Clark. . . . .

Prosecutors recommended a 15-year sentence for the manslaughter charge and a 10-year sentence for the robbery charge. Barber’s attorney asked Travis for concurrent sentences, citing how a string of events in his young life have affected him dramatically and concurrent sentences could give him a chance to get back on track.

Travis partially obliged, making five years of the 10-year sentence for the robbery charge concurrent with the 15-year sentence for the manslaughter charge.

Mr Barber was arrested on May 2, 2018, which means he has already served 3 years and 9 months of his 20-year sentence. Assuming he serves the full 20 years, he’ll be out on May 2, 2038, when he’ll be just 39 years old. Tyrese Clark, on the other hand, will still be stone-cold graveyard dead.

So, why did the Fayette County Commonwealth’s Attorney, Lou Ann Red Corn, allow such a lenient plea bargain? The Bluegrass State still has the death penalty, though it is rarely carried out. Other than a capital sentence, punishments for capital offenses can include life without parole, 25 years to life in prison, or 20 to 50 years of imprisonment. Commonwealth’s Attorney Red Corn could have put Mr Barber away for the rest of his miserable life, but instead chose to cut him a break, and give him a chance to get out of jail while still a relatively young man.

Why give him the plea bargain? Mr Barber had already admitted killing Mr Clark, so try him for murder. Include the manslaughter charge, to give the jury the option if they have sympathy for his self-defense claim, but keep the option of sparing the rest of society from seeing Mr Barber back on the streets.