A prosecutor’s mis­con­duct relat­ed to a Kentucky cap­i­tal mur­der case led the state to accept a plea bar­gain with the defen­dant in which he now faces a sen­tence of 10 years with the pos­si­bil­i­ty of imme­di­ate parole. Officials say Assistant Commonweath Attorney Ruth Lerner com­pro­mised the death penal­ty pros­e­cu­tion against Cory Gibson by cut­ting a deal with a wit­ness against Gibson. Lerner had not dis­closed a deal made with the wit­ness in a sep­a­rate rob­bery case in exchange for his tes­ti­mo­ny against Gibson. Lerner’s boss, David Stengel, announced Lerner’s res­ig­na­tion, adding she would have been fired if she had not resigned. ​“This was a cap­i­tal mur­der case,” Stengel said at a press con­fer­ence. ​“We just can’t do this kind of work in a cap­i­tal mur­der case.” Before the cap­i­tal tri­al, pros­e­cu­tors were instruct­ed not to make any deals with the wit­ness­es in Gibson’s case. Lerner had insist­ed no deal was made until a video sur­faced show­ing her inform­ing a judge of the deal reached in the wit­ness’ case. Stengel apol­o­gized to the fam­i­ly of the vic­tim for the result­ing 10-year sen­tence, say­ing ​“I’m sorry.”

(B. Barrouquere, ​“Prosecutor resigns after con­tro­ver­sial plea deal,” Lexington Herald-Leader, June 11, 2009). See Arbitrariness and Sentencing.

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