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Two Butler double homicides may be death-penalty eligible

Four people accused in connection with the deaths of two people whose bodies were found in a burned-out car in Butler County are scheduled to appear in court for arraignment Wednesday in what has the potential to become a death penalty case.

 


Charles W. "Cotton" Lindsey, 33, of Roundhill, is charged with two counts of murder and one count each of first-degree arson and tampering with physical evidence.

Kentucky State Police suspect Lindsey caused the deaths of the two people who were found Nov. 9 in a car in the 700 block of Region-Reedyville Road. KSP Detective Graham Rutherford testified in a preliminary hearing last month that the bodies were "burned beyond recognition" and that one of the bodies had a gunshot wound to the head.

Police have not released the names of the two people who were found dead and are awaiting the results of forensic testing that may confirm the identities of the bodies.

Also charged in the case are Kayla D. Ford, 27, of Edmonton, Arlexis Kawai, 22, of Bowling Green, and Helen Rone, 21, of Roundhill. They are each charged with two counts of complicity to murder, two counts of facilitation of murder and one count each of first-degree complicity to arson, first-degree facilitation of arson and tampering with physical evidence.

Butler County Commonwealth's Attorney Tim Coleman said his office is "looking strongly" at whether to file a notice of aggravating factors that would allow him to seek enhanced sentencing for the co-defendants.

State law identifies a number of aggravating factors that prosecutors can cite when seeking enhanced punishment such as the death penalty, life in prison without parole or life with no chance at parole for at least 25 years.

Capital punishment is a possibility for a defendant accused of murder if a prosecutor seeks to prove that the deaths occurred during the course of a commission of another violent crime.

A murder case with multiple victims is also considered an aggravating factor that can open up the possibility of a death penalty prosecution.

"We just evaluate the case and look at the aggravating circumstances, the egregious nature of the underlying charge and make a decision to go forward," Coleman said while speaking generally about his office's approach to deciding whether to seek enhanced punishment in criminal cases.

Coleman recently filed a notice of aggravating factors in another active case in Butler Circuit Court against Kevin Dye, 34, of Morgantown, who is charged with two counts of murder and one count each of possession of a handgun by a convicted felon, receiving stolen property (firearm) and second-degree persistent felony offender.

Dye is accused of causing the deaths of retired pastor Kenneth Neafus and his wife Dorothy Neafus, whose bodies were found in their Richland Church Road home Aug. 9.

Currently there are 33 inmates on Kentucky's death row, according to the Kentucky Department of Corrections.

None of those cases involved crimes committed in this area, though one inmate was convicted and sentenced by a Warren County jury after his case was moved here from Adair County.

Three inmates have been executed in the state since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976. The person with the longest tenure on Kentucky's death row was sentenced to death in 1980.

Executions in Kentucky are currently on hold because of ongoing litigation over the legality of lethal injection for death row inmates, and state lawmakers from the two major parties have filed legislation in recent years to abolish the death penalty.

"Every case speaks for itself, and I think the important thing to do is, once the investigation is complete then you evaluate any potential aggravating factors as well as look at any potential mitigation evidence that has been brought forth," Warren County Commonwealth's Attorney Chris Cohron said about the decision to seek enhanced punishment in criminal cases. "Then I think it's very important to meet with the victims' families and evaluate their wishes in regard to it, and after taking all those factors into play making a decision regarding whether to seek aggravated sentencing."

Cohron has prosecuted multiple capital cases, but none in which a jury delivered a death sentence.

Relative to other criminal cases, death penalty cases are often more time-consuming.

Prosecuting and defense attorneys interview each potential juror individually in a lengthy process that allows the attorneys to ascertain a potential juror's opinions about the death penalty.

"I think capital punishment is something people talk about quite a bit, but I think until someone is truly in the jury box, they really won't be able to truly realize the magnitude of that decision," Cohron said.

Attorney David Broderick, who successfully defended Lucas Goodrum in a murder case involving the 2003 death of Western Kentucky University student Katie Autry where Cohron sought the death penalty, had similar thoughts.

In the abstract, a person might have a strong opinion in favor of the death penalty, but if a person is placed on a jury, the evidence and testimony might sway the juror toward another punishment.

"In my experience in talking with jurors, they have some pretty strong feelings about the death penalty, but they don't have any hesitation about giving life without parole. ... Some people feel that life without parole is a more severe penalty than the death penalty, and sometimes that's a hard concept for people to want to deal with, particularly if it's your loved one that something has happened to," Broderick said. "Once a death penalty case goes to a jury, there's nothing else you can do and it's not an easy wait for a decision, to say the least."

The time-consuming nature of a capital case, including the often-years long appeals process that can leave an inmate on death row for decades, may lead prosecutors away from seeking death in certain cases, Broderick said.

Broderick said that jurors may be persuaded to give a death sentence if the circumstances surrounding a victim's death were particularly egregious.

Jurors can also consider mitigating factors set out in state law, such as a defendant's youth or lack of a prior criminal history, or if the defendant suffered from extreme emotional or mental disturbance at the time of the offense, that can dissuade a jury away from a death sentence in favor of a different punishment.

"I think jurors are impacted by a defendant's demeanor, by the victim's family," Broderick said. "There's more tension in trying these cases, and I think jurors feel it."

 

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By Justin Story
Bowling Green Daily News

 

Date: 01-01-2017

Kentucky Press News Service

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