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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Second Degree Manslaughter |
Sentence: |
10 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
6 |
Year Crime: |
1998 |
Year Convicted: |
2008 |
Year Cleared: |
2014 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Kentucky |
County or Region of Crime: |
Owen |
City of Crime: |
Gratz |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated Released |
Summary of Case: |
"Susan Jean King was wrongly convicted in 2008 of a 1998 murder of Kyle Breeden in Gratz, Kentucky. The cold case was reopened in 2006 and Susan King was indicted in April 2007. In September 2008 King pled no contest to the crime's commission (Alford plea) in exchange to the reduced charge of second-degree manslaughter and tampering with evidence in exchange for a 10 year sentence. King was convicted even though she has one leg and uses a wheelchair, and the prosecution claimed she threw the victim over a bridge into the Kentucky River. On May 3, 2012 Richard Jarrell, Jr. was arrested for attempted murder by the Louisville Metro Police Department. During Jarrell's interrogation he confessed to the murder of Breedon and he provided details that hadn't been released to the public. Based on that new evidence King filed a motion for a new trial. After a two-day evidentiary hearing the judge found that Jarrell's confession was new evidence and credible, but that King wasn't entitled to appeal her conviction because she had entered a plea rather than go to trial. King appealed, and on July 18, 2014 Kentucky's Court of Appeal reversed the lower court's ruling denying her motion for a new trial, and remanded for a jury trial. On October 7 the prosecution filed a motion to dismiss the charges against King which was granted. King was released in November 2012 after serving 6 years in custody. In October 2015 King filed a federal civil rights lawsuit that named as defendants the Kentucky State Police and KSP Detective Todd Harwood who investigated the case, with the suit claiming the officer lied to a judge to obtain a search warrant and left out evidence in the case. On April 1, 2020, U.S. District Court Judge Claria Horn Boom denied a motion filed by former KSP Detective Harwood to dismiss King's malicious prosecution claim against him, and her suit can proceed to trial. King alleges Harwood fabricated evidence against her and, induced her to take a plea in the case when he “told her he would make sure she spent the rest of her life in jail and that she would get the electric chair.”" |
Conviction Caused By: |
False plea to commiting the crime. |
Innocence Proved By: |
"On July 18, 2014 Kentucky's Court of Appeal reversed the lower court's ruling denying her motion for a new trial, and remanded for a jury trial. On October 7 the prosecution filed a motion to dismiss the charges against King which was granted. King had been released in 2012 after serving 6 years in custody." |
Defendant Aided By: |
Kentucky Innocence Project |
Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
Yes |
Age When Imprisoned: |
46 |
Age When Released: |
52 |
Sex: |
Female |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
White |
Information Source 1: |
"Susan Jean King v. Commonwealth, No. 2012-CA-001985-MR (Ky. Ct of Appeals 7-18-2014) (Vacating conviction)" |
Information Location 1: |
"http://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=17492244473706415753&q=Susan+Jean+King&hl=en&as_sdt=4,18" |
Information Source 2: |
"Woman elated after murder charge dropped, By Andrew Wolfson (Staff writer), The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY), October 9, 2014" |
Information Location 2: |
http://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/local/2014/10/09/woman-elated-murder-charge-dropped/16973397/ |
Information Source 3: |
"Woman jailed in Breeden murder is released, By Shannon Brock, The Sentinel-News (Shelbyville, Tenn.), November 20, 2012" |
Information Location 3: |
http://www.sentinelnews.com/content/woman-jailed-breeden-murder-released |
Information Source 4: |
"Woman exonerated for murder now suing, By Staff writer, WHAS-TV (Louisville, Ky), October 7, 2015" |
Information Location 4: |
http://www.whas11.com/story/news/local/2015/10/07/woman-exonerated-murder-now-suing/73559208/ |
Information Source 5: |
"Susan Jean King v. Todd Harwood, Civ. No. 3:15-CV-762-CHB (USDC Western District of Kentucky, Louisville Div., 4-1-20) (Memorandum Opinion and Order On Defendant's Motion For Summary Judgment)" |
Information Location 5: |
https://files.deathpenaltyinfo.org/documents/King-Susan-WDKY-Summary-Judgment-Order-2020-04-01.pdf |
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Comments About Case: |
Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org