Louisville Metro Police Lieutenant fights for his job

Stick it to them Rich! I would have chosen a different lawyer, but I wish you all the luck in the world.

It's going to be an interesting case to watch unfold, especially if any of it's true. High profile civil trials can often get to facts that the criminal courts can't because the attorneys are better and the rules of evidence are more permissive.

Susan Jean King, incarcerated since 2008 for manslaughter in the death of her ex-boyfriend, had her motion for new trial denied even though a man confessed to the crime. The judge made his decision despite finding that the other man’s confession provided a “startling level of detail about the murder.” Spencer Circuit Judge Charles R. Hickman said the confession with “reasonable certainty” would change the result if King were granted a trial. But he declined to order one because she pleaded guilty in 2008, while maintaining her innocence, and wasn’t convicted at trial. “A motion for a ‘new trial’ logically suggests that there was an ‘old trial,’ and that is not the case ,” Hickman ruled Friday in an eight-page order.

The shooting death of Kyle “Deanie” Breden, whose body was found in the Kentucky River in 1998, went unsolved for eight years until Kentucky State Police Detective Todd Harwood picked it up as a cold case in 2006 and in three weeks identified King as the chief suspect. Facing life in prison if convicted of murder, King in 2008 entered an Alford plea to manslaughter and accepted a 10-year sentence that left her eligible for parole in only two years. The Kentucky Innocence Project began investigating her case after concluding it would have been physically impossible for her to have thrown Breeden’s body off a bridge into the river; King had only one leg and weighed 97 pounds at the time of the offense.

Then in May, Richard Thomas Jarrell Jr., after being arrested in Louisville for allegedly firing a shotgun into a home, told detectives he had killed Breeden. He gave details about the crime that were not commonly known. Jarrell told police that Breeden stole $20 from him. Jarell said he lured Breeden to an abandoned home where he shot him twice and then tied his legs with a cord. Jarell said he killed Breeden on his 21st birthday, which was the day Breeden was murdered. Jarell even knew the clothing Breeden had on that day.

However, Judge Hickman noted that Jarell later recanted his confession and was not sure which Jarrell statement was the truth. But Hickman also said that the confession would have probably produced a different result at trial. Ultimately, Hickman ruled that it would be inappropriate to apply a new trial standard to this case since King never went to trial. But why allow this motion to be filed and then hold a two-day hearing in July if King did not have a legal right to a new trial? The answer remains unknown as Hickman never addressed the issue or gave an explanation.

Notice there is no substance to the story. He does not want to address the potential termination issues. Lets hear about those.