Featured KY News Stories:
Oakwood workers may lose protection
Deborah Yetter
06 Sep 2006 12:00 am
About 650 state workers would lose merit system protection at Communities at Oakwood and up to 80 suspected of abuse or neglect could lose their jobs, under proposed management changes detailed yesterday.
Officials say they are close to an agreement for an outside, regional mental health agency to run Oakwood, the state's largest center for adults with mental retardation.
The goal of the management change is to stem incidents of abuse and neglect at the Somerset center and convince federal officials to continue providing Medicaid money, state officials say.
Such an agreement with Bluegrass Regional Mental Health-Mental Retardation Board would mean that most state workers would become employees of the board, losing protection under the state's merit system law. That law is supposed to protect workers from unfair personnel decisions.
Gag order denied in Iraq murder case
Associated Press
01 Sep 2006 12:00 am
A federal judge rejected a gag order that could have kept lawyers and even President George W. Bush from publicly discussing the rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the slaying of her relatives.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Russell said there is "no reason to believe" that a former soldier's right to a fair trial would be jeopardy.
In a ruling Thursday, Russell also ordered former Pte. Steven Green, 21, to be arraigned Nov. 8 in federal court in Louisville.
Personal Injury Lawyers for Steven Green want silence
Associated Press
29 Aug 2006 2:25 pm
Defense attorneys say federal officials should be barred from speaking about the case of a former soldier charged with raping and killing a 14-year-old Iraqi girl. Attorneys for former Fort Campbell-trained Army private Steven Green say in court documents that a gag order is necessary because federal officials have had a “cavalier” attitude toward commenting on high profile cases.
Federal prosecutors have said a gag order is unnecessary and would hamper the ability of administration officials to talk with Iraqi officials about the case and other incidents.
Police Release Composite Of Suspect Wanted In Abduction, Rape Of Corbin Woman
16 Aug 2006 12:00 am
Police have released a composite sketch of a man wanted in the alleged abduction and assault of a Corbin woman who said she was abducted at gunpoint and then woke up the next day in her car on the side of I-75.
The incident began on August 4 about 6:30 p.m. Police say the woman was in her car in front of a business on 18th Street in Corbin when a man approached the car and asked her for directions. He then pulled out a gun, forced his way into the car and told her to drive to an area off Kentucky 26 in Whitley County located about 15 miles away. Police say the 39-year-old woman said she was then drugged and raped after they arrived.
What happened after the alleged rape is unknown, as the woman woke up about 12 hours later in the back seat of her car near the Kentucky-Tennessee line on I-75.
Expired car tags leads to arrest of rape suspect
15 Aug 2006 12:00 am
A 36-year-old Cincinnati man wanted on a rape charge in Hamilton County was arrested in Florence on Saturday.
During a computer check on the expired tag, police learned that [he] was wanted in Hamilton County on a rape charge. He was arrested without resistance, police said.
Police Search For Suspect In I-65 Rape
Connie Leonard
12 Aug 2006 7:29 am
It's a driver's worst nightmare. First, to break down on the side of the road. Then to be attacked by someone who's pretending to be a Good Samaritan. Kentucky State Police say that's exactly what happened on northbound I-65 Thursday night near Horse Cave when a woman who had a flat was raped by a man who offered to change her tire.
Holder tells WAVE 3 News that after changing the tire, the man pulled her to his vehicle and assaulted her.
Police say after the woman was raped, she went into a truck stop off the Horse Cave exit asking for help.
The man state police are looking for in connection with this rape is a white male with short gray hair, in his late 30's or early 40s, around 5'11 to 6 feet tall. He was wearing a tan button up shirt and blue jeans and was last seen driving a gold Chevrolet king cab truck.
Police say the best piece of advice is always carry a cell phone, even if you can't afford the service, keep one charged in the car because you still will be able to dial 911.
Anyone with information in the case is asked to call Kentucky State Police at 1-800-222-5555 and ask for the Bowling Green Post.
Bizarre Death Four Years After Trial Leads To Tossed Conviction
Associated Press
07 Aug 2006 8:32 am
When Timothy Smith was convicted five years ago of sexually abusing his daughter Katie, his pleas of innocence largely went ignored.
Testimony by an expert witness who said Katie suffered from "repressed memory syndrome" and was just then remembering incidents that allegedly happened five to ten years before helped convince the jury to lock up her father for 20 years.
With no physical evidence in the case, Smith could only keep denying his daughter's claims.
But the bizarre circumstances leading to Katie's death last year put Smith's case -- for which he had already served four years in prison -- back in the spotlight. A Chicago lawyer and the Kentucky Innocence Project questioned whether Smith received a fair trial, leading to a judge's decision this week to overturn his conviction.
More problems emerging for Care Academy
Associated Press
01 May 2006
Boys in custody for sex offenses at a private juvenile center were having sex with each other while staff sometimes played video games or left for breaks, state investigative records show.
In the wake of the reports by an investigator for the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Office of Investigations, the state has removed the sex offenders from the Care Academy in the central Kentucky town of Willisburg and stopped sending children there for any reason.
Law gets tougher on sex offenders
PAUL MCKIBBEN
27 Apr 2006 1:18 pm
Sex offenders in Boone County and throughout Kentucky who live near schools, parks and daycare centers will have to move farther away under a new law.
Offenders will have 90 days to find new homes that are 1,000 feet away from the farthest point of the facilities' property lines. The measure takes effect sometime in July.
An estimated 10 offenders could be impacted by the new law in Boone County. The Kentucky State Police lists 61 sexual offenders for Boone County.
Child Porn Bust
Child porn is a 20 million dollar black market industry, with hundreds of thousands of customers and many victims.
The sex crime industry employs many. 77 people in Warren County alone are on the Kentucky State Police's sex offender registry. This latest bust involved those who targeted children through the Internet.
Micro-City Youth Director, Ron Berry, Convicted On All 12 Charges Of Sodomizing Young Teenage Boys
01 Feb 2001 12:00 am
Berry conviction jolts city, raises questions
Lexington youth leader convicted on all 12 counts of sodomy
Ron Berry, founder of Lexington's Micro-City Government, was found guilty in March of 12 counts of sodomy that took place with six boys during the 1970's and '80s. The boys, now adults, were at that time 12 to 15 years old.
For many, the end of Berry's trial was a relief - the culmination of years of accusation and speculation about his guilt or innocence. For others, the Louisville jury;s decision to convict Berry brought a sense of justice to an otherwise tragic and sick situation. But perhaps for all those individuals affected by the case, whether directly or indirectly, their deepest soul searching has just begun.
