Lexington murder case’s dismissal leads to questions, concerns

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — A murder case dismissal has led to an appeal by the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.

On Dec. 8, Cornell Thomas II’s case, in which he was charged with murder, was dismissed by the court.

Julie Goodman, the judge presiding over the case, cited racial discrimination in her argument against the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s charge.

“The cases I get are the ones that come, for the most part, from district court. So the disproportionality, and I agree there is a disproportionate number of African Americans that are being prosecuted, but it comes from well before it’s even charged I guess I should say, but I get what I get. So if it’s disproportional at the beginning it’s going to be disproportional to me,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Kimberly Baird.

The documents from the case, show the comparison between Thomas’s case and another. Both similar in nature, but the documents point out the difference in the defendant’s race saying the white man who was intoxicated at the time of the crime was charged with manslaughter, while the Black man who was deemed not intoxicated at the time of the crime was charged with murder.

After the court said they found prosecutorial misconduct, Judge Goodman dismissed the case, but not without repercussions.

Baird sent out a press release with the following statement:

“I am deeply troubled by the allegations made by Judge Julie Goodman of racism and discriminatory charging decisions by the office of the Fayette Commonwealth’s Attorney, and even more appalled at the implication that I, as an African-American woman heading this office, would participate in or condone such behavior.”

We followed up with both Judge Goodman and Baird.

Baird said she was disappointed in the ruling of this case and found the situation disrespectful and rude.

“Communication is key to [Judge Goodman’s] role and mine. Trust is key to her role and mine. If you saw something that troubled you, I would have hoped that you would have picked up the phone and called. I’m in court, she used to work here — the number has not changed. I would have wished she would have called and talked to me about it,” said Baird.

Judge Goodman sent ABC 36 a statement which reads

“Pursuant to the Supreme Court Rules of Judicial Conduct, the court cannot comment on a pending case and therefore shall not do so at this time.”

In the case documents, Judge Goodman based her decision to dismiss the case on prosecutorial misconduct through racial discrimination.

The Commonwealth Attorney’s office is filing an appeal against Judge Goodman within the next 30 days.