tagged w/ fayette county
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The widow of a Lexington police officer killed in a hit-and-run has filed a lawsuit against her husband's accused killer.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in Fayette Circuit Court, says that as a result of Bryan Durman's death his wife, Brandy, "has lost the love, affection, companionship and consortium" of her husband.
The lawsuit also says their 4-year-old son, Brayden, "has lost the love, affection and companionship" of his father.
Lexington Herald-Leader - "He was the father that everyone wishes they had," Brandy Durman, right, said Sunday of her husband, Officer Bryan Durman, left, with their son, Brayden. Brian Durman died in the line of duty Thursday.
Bryan Durman, 27, was struck in a hit-and-run while investigating a noise complaint on North Limestone about 10 p.m. on April 29. He later died.
Police have charged Glenn Rahan Doneghy with murder. Doneghy, 33, has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Brandy Durman, who is being represented by Lexington attorneys Joe C. Savage and Escum L. Moore III, is seeking an undetermined amount of money. The suit seeks punitive and compensatory damages, as well as a civil trial separate from Doneghy's criminal proceedings, Savage said.
While the lawsuit mentions Bryan Durman's death, it is not currently a wrongful death lawsuit, Savage said.
Currently, "it's an injury case ... for the injuries done to the wife and the son," Savage said.
Savage said that wrongful death claims will be added to the lawsuit once Brandy Durman is named administratrix of Bryan Durman's estate.
Savage said Brandy and Brayden Durman are both still struggling with the loss of their husband and father.
"She lived day-to-day knowing that ... officers are to some extent in harm's way, but you never think this kind of thing is going to happen," he said. "It's devastating to her and her son."
Attorney Kate Dunn, who is representing Doneghy in his murder case, said she will not be representing him in the civil suit. Dunn said she did not know whether Doneghy had an attorney.
Doneghy has 20 days to respond to the lawsuit unless a written defense is prepared, the suit says. He is being held at the Fayette County jail.
Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/05/20/1272793/widow-sues-man-charged-in-lexington.html#ixzz0oYlFy4caThe widow of a Lexington police officer killed in a hit-and-run has filed a lawsuit... more
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After almost four days of trial, a federal jury deliberated for less than two hours Thursday before finding two former Fayette County Detention Center workers guilty of charges relating to abusing prisoners and trying to cover it up.
Clarence McCoy, a former deputy jailer, and John McQueen, a former sergeant assigned to the third-shift prisoner intake unit, were found guilty on all counts in U.S. District Court on Thursday.
McQueen was convicted of one count each of conspiracy to deprive rights under color of law, falsifying records with intent to obstruct investigation, tampering with a witness, and two counts of deprivation of rights under color of law.
McCoy was convicted of one count each of conspiracy to deprive rights under color of law, deprivation of rights, and falsifying records, with two counts of aiding and abetting other officers in abusive acts.
The falsifying records and tampering with a witness charges each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The conspiracy to deprive rights and deprivation of rights charges each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The two were allowed to stay free on bond until sentencing Aug. 31.
Three other jail workers who were originally indicted in the case entered guilty pleas last year. Former Lt. Kristine Lafoe, Sgt. Anthony Estep, and deputy jailer Scott Tyree all accepted plea deals in May.
The charges stemmed from reports that jail officials assaulted pre-trial detainees — people being held following an arrest but prior to conviction. On several occasions, the jailers slammed detainees' heads onto the triage counter in the prisoner intake area or otherwise assaulted or planned to assault them, according to court records.
Records said the acts occurred when prisoners were not "resisting or posing a threat to any officer."
The men then wrote false reports or failed to file reports about the incidents; they took place in 2006, court records said.
"The justice system did its job in this case, which dates back to 2006," Mayor Jim Newberry said in a statement. "During my administration we have not had additional charges of abuse at the jail thanks in part to changes we have made concerning intake and video monitoring."
Attorneys began closing arguments around 1 p.m. Thursday.
Defense attorney Andrew Stephens told the court much of the evidence they saw over the course of the trial, including surveillance video of the assaults, had been taken out of context.
Each of those videos, Stephens argued, showed the incident but not the events leading up to it. In one case, he said, an inmate had tried to get out of his handcuffs, potentially freeing him to attack officers. In another, a prisoner who looked "frail" on video had earlier escaped from a police cruiser, showing he was not as helpless as he looked, Stephens said.
"It is a signal: 'Watch out for this guy,' he said. "He was a risk."
Pam Ledgewood, another attorney for the defendants, said use of force by the officers was in response to perceived threats; she said inmates often bit, spat on, kicked and verbally abused officers.
In that environment, she said, "is it shocking ... that the slightest twitch, the slightest movement, becomes a threat?"
However, prosecutor Jared Fishman of the U.S. Department of Justice said the use of force was not justified in McQueen's and McCoy's case.
"These people were assaulted after any threat was over," Fishman said. He acknowledged that some of the prisoners' rights were given up after an arrest, but that no one loses the right "to be free from unlawful abuse."
The videos presented to the jury were "snapshots of an overall picture of the way things were done," Fishman said. "They were part of a culture of abuse."
That incident reports were often falsified or written in code was proof, Fishman said, of a conspiracy at the jail to cover up prisoner abuse.
Ledgewood denied that code words in incident reports were placed there as part of a conspiracy, but rather as shorthand.
"In all jobs, we all speak in codes," she said.
Read more: http://www.kentucky.com/2010/05/13/1263944/two-former-fayette-county-detention.html#ixzz0ntL9i8OuAfter almost four days of trial, a federal jury deliberated for less than two hours... more
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Lexington City Council Members,
By now most of you probably know who I am and some of you have known me for years. However, some of you may not know the details of my situation and why I have ‘called out’ certain council members.
In 1999, after years of investigating escort agencies that were interfering with my legitimate business, I landed a treasure trove of information when Deborah Wardlaw called me. Deborah had figured out that I was investigating the agencies and the officers that had been extorting them and allowing them to continue unabated. We talked and I agreed to leave her out of any of my planned lawsuits or criminal charges if she agreed to fill me in on the information I was seeking. I obtained lots of interesting information from her and was able to follow up by getting recordings, video and documents to confirm her accusations. Not long after this my phones were tapped and I was being put under surveillance.
Months passed and the city starting talking about the escort ordinance. Deborah was upset and didn’t think the ordinance was legal nor fair. You see, she didn’t want to pay extortion and have to deal with the fees and rules under the ordinance. She called and wanted me to go in on an attorney, I explained that I wasn’t in that business and didn’t see the need but wished her luck. She then kept in touch. The further the ordinance went the more upset she got. She informed me that she was going to ‘out’ the cops because she wasn’t going to do both the cops and the ordinance. She had been threatened by some officers over this. I told her to be careful and about a week later I turned on the TV and saw that she had been murdered.
I began recording all of my calls and even when I went out when the phone taps began. Luckily, I had recorded Deborah. I have gone to Margaret Kannensohn and Internal Affairs almost immediately and over the past ten years have sent letters and made calls to almost everyone else. I have a recording of Deborah clearly talking about her fears among much other evidence in her case. The police have no interest in pursuing this path of investigation. Imagine that. The officers she accused, some of them, were placed on the case to investigate it. ???
Almost immediately after the murder my phone taps and surveillance turned into outright harassment and false arrests and charges. During those false arrests and charges for a ten year period of time Margaret Kannensohn held a summons for a child support case for me. Attempts to serve the document have been falsified on the paperwork and, problematic for her office, happen to have been on days that I was falsely arrested for something else or was currently in their jail on a false arrest. According to the County Attorney’s office this would be impossible since in 1997 they adopted a system by which the summons would have showed up on the officer’s computer, the jail’s computer, the dispatcher’s computer and anywhere else connected to the system and would have been known and served while I was being arrested for everything else. Subsequently, the case is still in court and will be included in a long list of civil rights violations I plan to file. The worst part is I still have not met nor had any contact with my daughter who is now 13 years old in her entire life because my file was not officially meddled with by Margaret Kannensohn or taken home to be worked on because her ‘sovereign immunity’ while being sued for this by her own staff says so.
Now, the county attorney wants money from me for all of the years that I was deprived of any contact with my daughter. Mind you, they want back pay and previous insurance, medical costs, dental work, child care and more . I missed the first bus ride, the first bruise, bug bite, A+, B-, lost tooth and the right to have any influence on her life whatsoever. Yet, somehow, hiding my file while prosecuting me over and over for having information implicating police officers in a murder gives them the right to ask me for money.
I had been fighting this corruption, literally dodging bullets and trying to get Deborah’s murder solved for 9 years when I was served with this. THIS, was going absolutely too far. I have had enough and I’m not going to take it anymore.
I began working harder than ever before documenting evidence, investigating officers, council-members and anyone who was avoiding investigating these officers or giving me the runaround. That’s when I decided that I was going to make it the next few government employees asked responsibility to do something about it. Besides, it is their job anyway. Instead of the runaround, I would demand that they call the people they want me to call and report their findings to me. I wanted to end the political banter that keeps everything from getting done in this country and on this case specifically.
That is when I contacted Chuck Ellinger and Stan Lee. Stan Lee was too busy working on a bill to make cat abuse equal to dog abuse when I first contacted him. The next time around, well, he decided that Deborah’s profession didn’t sit well with his Family Values political stance. Too bad he forgot the story of Jesus and the throwing of stones; also a prostitute.
Chuck Ellinger, well he tried the same old pass me around to the same old people that I had been passed around to in the past. So, I personally hold Chuck responsible for looking into these recordings and at least ordering an investigation into the ballistics of the officers mentioned to the one taken from the murder. Yes, Deborah had a checkered past and I had looked down upon her while investigating the escorts. After we had talked for months I realized that she was a mother, a grandmother, a person, a human and equal to myself. Yes, equal to the rest of us no matter her profession. I realized that her murder and death deserved to be solved. Her family deserved closure and the officers, if guilty, need punished. Are all of your closets clean? Jesus said, “He who is without sin should cast the first stone”. Would you be the first to cast a stone at Deborah? By ignoring the evidence in her murder you are doing just that.
I now ask the entire council: Will you ask for an investigation into the officers mentioned by Deborah Wardlaw just approximately one week before her murder? Will you lay down the stones of denial and accusation; reflect on your own skeletons in your own closets and give Deborah Wardlaw the respect she deserves as a human being equal to yourselves? I hope the lesson taught to Ellinger can be taken with him throughout his career to remind him that we all have our faults. I would hope that Mr. Ellinger would want the same respect given to Deborah Wardlaw as would be given to himself. How about the rest of you?
I have already asked for Mr. Ellinger to give a response to this by this evening at 5 PM just prior to the debate on Harrodsburg Rd. at 6 PM through the Barefoot and Progressive blog. This debate will take place at a church, conveniently, because we may be teaching more Bible lessons tonight if the first time around didn’t get absorbed adequately.
I cannot see any reason why the recorded voice of a murdered woman naming people who had recently threatened her life would not be investigated except for the fact that she named police officers. If there is some other reason that my years of unabashed efforts to get this done have fallen on deaf ears then please respond with that reason. Otherwise, I look forward to working with the council presenting my evidence as soon as possible.
In Liberty,
Christopher Hignite
http://www.higgyforcity.comLexington City Council Members,
By now most of you probably know who I am and some... more
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City Council Candidate Runs to Expose Corruption and Murder As Documented!
Please go to the website link to view the videos mentioned in the following article:
From his campaign site's home page:
Who is Christopher Alan Hignite? Why should you vote for Christopher Alan Hignite?
Let's start by talking about who and what Christopher is not from Christopher's voice!
I'm not sure what that means, but I'm all ears!
Wait, before we go further, I must share the header pic. I'm not sure who these frightening stock photo people are, and why there is only a small blurry picture of the candidate. But we have a lot of ground to cover, so let's just move on.
undefinedOK, let's get back to who Christopher Hignite is:
I am not a politician and have no interest in becoming one. I am not tall. I don't have parents in politics. I don't have a Hollywood smile. I am not rich and have no interest in becoming rich. I am not interested in making cozy connections inherent in today's politics. I don't take money from corporate interests that will demand I vote in their interests.
Fair enough. So we have kind of a grassroots populist thing going? I'm down with that...
I am not a criminal even though some would have you believe that I am.
...(head turns) what's that?
I am not going to let murderers get a pass just because they wear a badge.
Come again?
Please read on in the following pages to find out why I decided to run for Council at Large this year. You will discover an intriguing story of the American Dream destroyed by corruption.
****
Yes, read on to find out more about my story, your story, Deborah Wardlaw's murder, government corruption and how to stop it.
Alrighty then.
So... this is what Christopher is talking about:
Mr. Hignite claims that his knowledge of this murder is why Lexington police constant follow, harrass and arrest him. He has many videos on the matter here.
He also asks:
WHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHYWHY.........................?
I've been asking that for years.
Also, there is this:
Let me sum up by reminding everyone that six candidates will make it through the primary to the general for the 3 available LFUCG At-Large seats.
It's still early, but as of now I'm rooting for Christopher Hignite to be one of those 6, so we can hear his unique brand of populism over the next 9 months.
UPDATE: BONUS FOOTAGE! (be sure to keep watching until you hit the 3:27 mark. That's the kicker.)City Council Candidate Runs to Expose Corruption and Murder As Documented!
Please... more
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The Central Kentucky area has been notorious over the last 20 years for having jail problems. Just another case of jailers behaving like criminals.The Central Kentucky area has been notorious over the last 20 years for having jail... more
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