Kentucky

Judge didn’t have discretion to dismiss jury panel for lack of diversity, top Kentucky court says

The Kentucky Supreme Court has ruled a trial judge in Louisville erred when he decided a black defendant was entitled to a jury with at least one African-American juror and dismissed the all-white jury panel. The court overturned a November 2014 decision by Judge Olu Stevens of Jefferson Circuit Court…

Dec 19, 2016 8:00 AM CST

Kansas justices retained despite ouster push

Voters in Kansas on Tuesday retained five justices on the state supreme court, despite a push to oust four of them by a victims’ rights group. The group, Kansas for Justice, said in a statement that it is “disappointed that Kansas voters left bad justices in place,” the Wichita Eagle…

Nov 10, 2016 8:00 AM CST

Family court judge says gay relationships are ‘just entertainment’

A family court judge in Lexington, Kentucky, told a religious group earlier this month he loves gays, but their relationships are “sterile” and “just entertainment.” Judge Tim Philpot criticized the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision finding a right to gay marriage as “pretty close to insane” and said gay marriage is…

Sep 22, 2016 2:53 PM CDT

Can mentally incompetent man obtain a divorce? Kentucky Supreme Court to decide

The Kentucky Supreme Court on Friday considered whether any elderly man who has been declared incompetent can divorce the woman who is serving as his guardian. The lawyer for Elmer Riehle is asking the state supreme court to overturn a 1943 decision finding that state law did not authorize a…

Aug 22, 2016 8:45 AM CDT

Judge agrees to suspension for Facebook comments, says he doesn’t believe prosecutor is a racist

A judge in Louisville, Kentucky, agreed to a suspension for his Facebook comments on Monday and said in an apology that he doesn’t believe a prosecutor is racist. Judge Olu Stevens resolved his ethics case when he agreed to a 90-day suspension, report the Louisville Courier-Journal, Courthouse News Service, the…

Aug 9, 2016 10:07 AM CDT

Attorney who took over husband’s death-penalty case after he was killed is sued for malpractice

After a mentally ill man shot her husband to death outside his Kentucky law office in 2014, attorney Bethany Stanziano took over as lead counsel in a triple-murder case that Mark Stanziano had been handling. Now she is being sued for legal malpractice by Kenneth Allen Keith, following her withdrawal…

Jun 8, 2016 12:20 PM CDT

Judge publicly reprimanded for jailing domestic-violence witness who recanted

A Louisville judge who admitted that she made a mistake when she ordered a balking witness in a domestic violence case jailed without a hearing last year should be publicly reprimanded, a Kentucky legal ethics panel has decided. In determining the penalty, the Judicial Conduct Commission said it took into…

Apr 22, 2016 2:30 PM CDT

Kentucky governor is looking for law firm to investigate predecessor

Kentucky’s Republican governor Matt Bevin will hire a private law firm to investigate his Democratic predecessor, Steve Beshear. According to ABC News, Bevin announced Tuesday that the state would begin the process of hiring a lawyer or law firm for the purposes of assisting Kentucky’s Finance Cabinet in investigating various…

Apr 20, 2016 12:30 PM CDT

Embattled Kentucky judge who highlighted jury diversity issues agrees to paid suspension

An embattled Kentucky judge who has taken an unusually public position in an ongoing battle with the local commonwealth’s attorney concerning jury diversity has agreed to a paid suspension as he awaits a trial in a legal ethics case. Jefferson Circuit Judge Olu Stevens “determined that it was in the…

Apr 18, 2016 9:20 AM CDT

Judge sues judicial conduct commission claiming 1st Amendment right to criticize system on Facebook

A Kentucky judge has gone on the offensive in a battle with prosecutors over the racial composition of juries in the Louisville area, filing a federal lawsuit seeking to block a potential judicial ethics sanction on First Amendment grounds. In his Friday complaint (PDF), Jefferson Circuit Judge Olu Stevens seeks…

Apr 1, 2016 2:00 PM CDT

Hogan Lovells to open global business services center in Louisville, Kentucky

Hogan Lovells is planning to open a global business services center in Louisville, Kentucky. Only the second such facility in the world for the 2,500-attorney law firm, it will involve an investment of some $8.9 million and is projected to ultimately bring 250 jobs paying an average of $65,000 to…

Feb 26, 2016 3:15 PM CST

Federal judge feels tricked into ‘chicanery, duplicity and mendacity’ in Stan Chesley matter

A federal judge in Toledo, Ohio, has ordered disbarred tort lawyer Stan Chesley and his lawyers to appear before him next month to explain whether they committed a fraud on the court. U.S. District Judge James Carr said he was unaware that Chesley had allegedly failed to comply with a…

Feb 23, 2016 5:45 AM CST

Appeals court stops case mid-trial, in latest judge-prosecutor dispute over jury diversity

The Kentucky Court of Appeals has called a temporary halt to a trial, in the latest dispute over the racial composition of a jury in a criminal case before Jefferson Circuit Judge Olu Stevens. On Tuesday, Stevens dismissed a jury panel in a robbery and assault trial, due to its…

Feb 11, 2016 12:05 PM CST

Lawyer tells how she nearly fell for jury duty scam

A scammer’s warning of missed jury duty was so persuasive that a Kentucky lawyer nearly paid the requested $1,500 “bond” to avoid arrest. The lawyer, Cindy Harrington Napier, shared her experience on Facebook to warn others about the scam, the Louisville Courier-Journal reports. Napier says she got a phone message…

Feb 8, 2016 11:25 AM CST

Former law firm office manager gets 27 months for stealing $265K over 30 months

A former officer manager of a Kentucky law firm was sentenced this week to more than two years in prison for embezzling almost $265,000 from King, Deep & Branaman over a 30-month period. Krista Kaye Graupner, 45, pleaded guilty to wire fraud in October in federal court in Owensboro and…

Feb 5, 2016 10:25 AM CST