Ji’Ya Alcorn is an impressive 14 year old, in many ways. Not the least of which is that she has already survived devastating loss in her young life after her 16 year old brother, Chaz was murdered in 2012. Ji’Ya did not give up and succumb to grief; instead she has worked harder than ever to make a difference in the world. She excels in school, shines on the Henry Clay softball team and recently had her first job interview. In addition to all of that, she was just awarded 1st prize in an essay contest held as a part of the #NOMOREHIDDENFIGURES put on by the Nerd Squad. You can read her wonderful essay here: Peace at War

Stolen Police Rifle Recovered

At about 10:30 p.m. on February 3, 2015 Lexington police responded to a robbery call at a convenience store on Newtown Pike. The victims reported that a man came into the store armed with an assault rifle and took cash, cigarettes, lottery tickets, and other items before leaving on
foot. A K-9 team established a track from the store to a nearby storage facility and located a suspect, who was identified as Kyler Aery, shortly thereafter. Aery was carrying a backpack and initially told the officers he was visiting his storage unit before trying to find a place to sleep for the night.

Security footage from the store showed the suspect entering with an assault rifle, taking the property, and wiping down the door as he left. Video from the storage facility showed a suspect climbing over the fence and entering one of the buildings. Aery was Mirandized and admitted to committing the robbery but stated the rifle used was a toy that he had thrown away. Police recovered several thousand dollars from the backpack and obtained a search warrant for Aery’s storage unit.

The search warrant led to the discovery of the loaded AR-15 assault rifle used to commit the robbery, checks and documents from the store, and other items including clothing that matched the security video and the stolen lottery tickets and cigarettes. The rifle had been reported stolen from a locked police cruiser in an adjacent county earlier the same day. It became apparent that Aery had changed clothes and hidden most of the stolen items in his storage unit before the police located him.

Criminal records show Aery, 30, has a relatively minor history in Kentucky, but a variety of activity from other states, including a felony burglary conviction from Wisconsin. Aery pled guilty to Robbery, First Degree and Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon and was sentenced to serve 13 years in the penitentiary.

Several from our office were in the courtroom this morning for the last moments of Judge Thomas Clark’s final criminal docket. Judge Clark retired in November but stayed until his successor was appointed. Judge Clark is a great trial judge, and while we are sad to see him go, we look forward to working with the new judge of the Eighth Division – Judge Thomas Travis. Congratulations Judge Clark – best wishes for a good life beyond the bench!

We’re doing our part in the first statewide hunger relief effort by Kentucky’s legal community. The inaugural Kentucky Legal Food Frenzy has started and runs through April 7, 2017. The campaign is sponsored by the office of Attorney General Andy Beshear, the office of Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes and the Kentucky Bar Association Young Lawyers Division. It’s a competition and we mean to be competitive.

If you would like help move Kentucky one step closer to ensuring that all of its citizens have access to adequate food – donate between now and April 7th at https://kyfoodfrenzy.com/donate-now/. Help us compete by designating Fayette Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office in the organization/firm name box. You may donate by credit card or PayPal. Just click the blue button at the bottom of the page to complete the donation through either.

Thanks for supporting the Kentucky Association of Food Banks and the Fayette Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.

On March 24, 2017, Judge Thomas Clark imposed a sentence of thirteen years to serve in prison on Kayla Foster for charges placed in September of 2014.

On September 14th, 2014, 911 calls came pouring into Georgetown and Lexington dispatchers regarding a drunk driver. The driver, later identified as Kayla Foster, was hitting barrels in the median, swerving, and hit another vehicle. Around 4:00 a.m. she ended up driving on a service road parallel to Iron Works Pike. From there she drove down an embankment, across the outbound traffic lane, over the median, and into oncoming traffic. She struck the vehicle of two people headed to work at Toyota. The female passenger was pronounced dead at the scene and the male driver would undergo years of continued medical treatment. Foster’s blood alcohol level was beyond the legal limit at the time of the fatal collision. Prosecutor on the case was Katie Bouvier. Lexington Police Officer Michael Carroll was the Lead Investigator for the Collision Reconstruction Unit.

http://www.lex18.com/story/34989560/lexington-woman-sentenced-in-deadly-crash