GUILTY KY - Hart Co., Dismembered body in container in Green River, Jul'16 - Kristen Edwards

http://www.wbko.com/content/news/391613751.html



Does anyone know why they do that? He has already admitted to the crime, why not let him plead guilty and get this all over with?

I've often wondered the same thing,,. Even when I'm the one going to court.

I honestly think that it's because there is so much paperwork that there isn't time to plead one way or the other. That way, you and/or your lawyer have a couple weeks to get all of your i's dotted and t's crossed.

And, depending upon the prosecutor, it may be in your best interest. They can (and will) charge you with anything they can. I was once charged with (but it was taken away during negotiations) Criminal Littering because I was smoking a cigarette when I got pulled over. I put it out in my ashtray, but I guess the cop just assumed I threw it out the window. That is just for traffic stuff. I'd imagine that stronger crimes would be even worse.
 
I've been trying to keep up on this case but haven't seen much until recently (a year later!):

Mental evaluation discussed for man facing murder charge
http://www.glasgowdailytimes.com/ne...cle_ed856e86-3443-11e7-8e03-a34014ada6c5.html (this is from May, somehow I missed it)

Two charged with murder appear in court
http://www.glasgowdailytimes.com/ne...cle_8b7b0162-8c43-11e7-8eb7-a3588a6b08fd.html

Evidence tested in Barren murder case
http://www.bgdailynews.com/news/evi...cle_cec3402c-6377-5ef9-9277-562885745521.html

I didn't see much new information. I did see that supposedly the crime occured 9 days before her body was found. They're working on a plea deal but nothing yet. Another pretrial conference in October, trial currently set for April.
 
The trial has been postponed until July 31st: http://www.glasgowdailytimes.com/ne...cle_21aa44aa-3170-11e8-b79f-ff47eb493683.html

The prosecutor also said Hudson had not followed a court rule that requires that if mental illness or mental defect is going to be offered as a defense in any phase of a trial, the commonwealth is supposed to be given notice of that at least 90 days before the trial, and he had not received formal notice until late last week.

Sounds like he's going to plead insanity. :rolleyes:
 
Barren man pleads guilty in slaying
A Barren County man will be sentenced next month after admitting guilt in a case in which he was accused of killing a woman in his apartment.

Clark Smith, 55, of Cave City, pleaded guilty but mentally ill Wednesday in Barren Circuit Court to charges of murder, tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse.

By pleading guilty but mentally ill, Smith accepted a plea agreement that will recommend a 25-year prison sentence. He will have to serve at least 20 years before he can meet the parole board.

Murder victim's grandmother disappointed with recommended sentence
Clark Smith was next door neighbors with Kristen's grandmother.

"Even after Kristen died I'd go over there and talk to him, even go over there and watch TV with him," Pedigo said about Edwards' killer. "He didn't act like anything [happened]."

The murder happened more than two years ago, but it was just last week on July 11 when Smith pleaded guilty but mentally ill. Pedigo says she knew her next door neighbor well enough to know that there was nothing wrong with his mental health.

Estate administrators for Kristen Edwards sue city, 911 center
A complaint filed Friday in Barren Circuit Court by Sheryl Bailey and Carmon Harlow, co-administrators of Edwards' estate, contends the 911 center was negligent because it received a 911 call July 14, 2016, from a cell number belonging to Edwards and, “[a]pparently, no action was taken by the 911 Center to 'ping,' trace or narrow down the location of this call and cellular telephone any closer than to the nearest cellular telephone tower.”

The civil lawsuit alleges that this “negligent failure” contributed to the wrongful death and pain and suffering of Kristen Edwards.
 
Man receives 25-year sentence in Barren murder case

Kristen Edwards was a compassionate, trusting person who helped others both in her profession as a certified nurses’ aide and in her everyday life, according to her mother, Angie Ponce.

Edwards’ death at 22 left the family in a deep state of grief, and her killer was held accountable on Thursday.

Clark W. Smith, 55, of Cave City, was sentenced to 25 years on counts of murder, tampering with physical evidence and abuse of a corpse, all in connection with Edwards’ death on or about July 14, 2016, at his apartment.

<snipped>

During his sentencing hearing in Barren Circuit Court, he stared ahead and sat silently between his defense team of court-appointed public defenders Lucrecia Diaz Hudson and Greg Berry as three of Edwards’ relatives gave victim impact statements.

“You took my baby from me, but worse, you took my grandbabies’ mother from them,” Ponce said, struggling to keep her composure while reading from a written statement. “You have caused such trauma in my life that I can barely function from day to day, my nights are sleepless and my pillow is stained with tears.”
 

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