Former KSP detective admits false testimony in murder case

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – A former Kentucky State Police Trooper of the Year admits he gave false testimony in a case involving a brutal murder in Clay County, according to the Lexington Herald-Leader.

The report says Charles J. Senters pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court to making a false statement while under oath.

Prosecutors recommended two-years probation with eight months of that on home incarceration, according to the newspaper.

Senters is scheduled to be sentenced in February 2019.

He was a KSP detective when he investigated the murder of Eli Marcum in 2012.

The newspaper report says Senters lied under oath about why he threw away two pieces of evidence in the case without having them tested at the state crime lab.

Defense attorneys for two men charged in connection to the Marcum murder argued those items should have been tested to help prove someone else killed Marcum, according to the Herald-Leader report.

Ultimately, prosecutors dismissed the charge against the two defendants related to Marcum’s murder, according to the newspaper report.