Kentucky News Now

ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE-FIREFIGHTERS HURT

Ice bucket challenge goes awry, firefighters hurt

CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Police in Kentucky say two firefighters were seriously injured when the fire truck's ladder got too close to a power line as they helped college students take part in an ice bucket challenge.

Campbellsville Police Chief Tim Hazlette said Thursday that one of the firefighters is in critical condition and the other is stable. They were in the truck's bucket as it was being lowered when they were shocked.

He says two other firefighters on the main part of the truck were also shocked. They have been treated and released.

Campbellsville University asked the local fire department to help spray its Tiger marching band with cold water to raise awareness for ALS.

No students were hurt.

KENTUCKY UNEMPLOYMENT

Lower jobless rates reported in 108 Ky. counties

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — State officials say last month's jobless rates in 108 Kentucky counties were lower than in July 2013.

The Kentucky Office of Employment and Training says unemployment rates rose in 10 counties and stayed the same in two.

It says Boone County in northern Kentucky had the state's lowest unemployment rate at 5.8 percent.

Caldwell County was next at 6 percent and Shelby and Woodford counties were at 6.1 percent each. The jobless rate was 6.2 percent in Daviess, Kenton, Oldham and Owen counties. The rate was 6.3 percent in Campbell and Simpson counties.

Magoffin County in eastern Kentucky had the state's highest unemployment rate at 15.4 percent.

It was followed by Jackson County at 14.6 percent, Harlan County at 14.4 percent, Leslie County at 13.3 percent and Letcher County at 13.2 percent.

HUSBAND KILLED

Kentucky court upholds 30-year sentence in slaying

FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The 30-year prison sentence of a western Kentucky woman in the death of her husband has been upheld by the Kentucky Supreme Court.

The justices on Thursday ruled that 53-year-old Donna Gaines failed to raise any issues that would warrant a new trial or sentencing in the 2009 slaying of Greg Sigler in Ohio County.

Gaines pleaded guilty to shooting Sigler and told a judge she did it because her husband stole money from her and tried to take her truck and that she needed to stand up for herself. Gaines also claimed to be a victim of domestic abuse, which would have shortened her prison sentence.

A judge rejected that finding, prompting the appeal.

Gaines is being held at the Western Kentucky Correctional Complex in Fredonia.

KENTUCKY EXECUTIONS-ST CLAIR

Death sentence of 6-time killer upheld in Kentucky

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Supreme Court has upheld a death sentence for a six-time convicted killer in a 1991 shooting.

The high court on Thursday rejected multiple claims by 57-year-old Michael Dale St. Clair that a Bullitt County judge erred in handling his resentencing in 2012.

St. Clair was convicted of killing distillery worker Francis "Frank" Brady of Bardstown in 1991.

St. Clair and another inmate escaped from an Oklahoma prison where he was serving four life sentences for murder and went on a cross-country crime spree that ended shortly after Brady's death.

St. Clair has also been convicted of kidnapping 22-year-old Timothy Keeling from the Denver area and killing him in the New Mexico desert.

The justices are still weighing a conviction and death sentence for kidnapping Brady in Hardin County.

INFORMANT DEATH

Family of slain informant wins judgment over death

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky Supreme Court has reinstated a damage award to the family of a teenage informant killed while working for police, but lowered the amount the state must pay.

The high court on Thursday ordered the Kentucky Board of Claims to pay $148,787 to the family of LeBron Gaither of Bardstown. Gaither died in July 1996 after testifying before grand juries in Marion and Taylor counties.

The case centered on how much liability police have when an informant is killed. It is an issue that has bounced around courts across the country for years without a clear determination about whether a law enforcement officer can be held responsible.

Gaither's family had initially been awarded $168,000. A trial court overturned that decision, and the Kentucky Court of Appeals agreed.

PLEA AGREEMENT-ETHICS

Kentucky Supreme Court upholds ethics rule

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Prosecutors in Kentucky will no longer be able to require defendants as part of a plea agreement to waive their right to appeal bad advice from their attorney.

The state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a rule banning defense attorneys from advising a client about a plea agreement requiring them to waive their right to challenge the attorney's performance at a later date. In the same opinion, the Kentucky Bar Association said that prosecutors may not propose a plea agreement that requires someone to waive the right to attack a defense attorney's performance on appeal.

The U.S. attorneys in Louisville and Lexington challenged the rule.

In Kentucky, ethics opinions approved by the high court are binding on all attorneys in the state.

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