Trial for man accused of killing Ky. lawmaker’s daughter set for 2025
RICHMOND, Ky. (WTVQ) — The man accused of killing 32-year-old Jordan Morgan, former state lawmaker C. Wesley Morgan’s daughter, in Madison County had his trial date set in court on Friday.
Shannon Gilday’s trial will begin on May 5, 2025.
Wesley Morgan spoke to reporters Friday, saying his family continues to feel the impacts of the loss of his daughter. He says he’s angered by the speed of how the case is moving.
“I am constantly in turmoil and barely can live. And her mother is the same way. We’re having a very difficult time with the loss of Jordan,” says Wesley Morgan.
On Feb. 22, 2022, Jordan Morgan was shot and killed inside her family’s home during a home invasion around 4:30 a.m.
Investigators told ABC 36 at the time that Jordan’s mother was injured in the shooting and that Wesley Morgan had returned fire.
In January during a previous court appearance, Gilday’s attorney Tom Griffiths filed two motions: one for improved living conditions and one for visitation rights for Gilday’s mother. Griffiths said he was concerned for Gilday’s mental health. The judge over-ruled those motions for lack of evidence.
“The judge asked us to put evidence on the record before she would have a hearring on that. Because that’s an extraordinary hearing. That’s not something that normally happens. So we’re still gathering that evidence. I wish I had that evidence now in my hand in a way that I could provide it to the commonwealth and the court today, but we don’t,” says Griffiths.
The judge also ordered Gilday undergo tests at the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center. Griffiths told ABC 36 that could take months because of a backlog.
Griffiths later telling the court he didn’t think Gilday’s case should go to trial.
When ABC 36 asked him about that, Griffiths responded.
“There’s no question about what happened that day. There’s no question about Shannon’s mental state. He is profoundly mentally ill. It is my hope that at some point in his life, with medical help that can improve,” says Griffiths.
Griffiths continues: “There’s no question about those facts. A trial is about facts. A trial is bringing a case before a jury and saying
you the jury is actually the finder of facts. We’re gonna give you information and you decide what happened. That doesn’t need to happen in this case. We all know what happened. We all know what his state of mind is, we all know everything about this case that a jury would need determine, we can determine and we can explain to the court and the commonwealth, we should all be on the same page. So in a case like this, we don’t need to have a jury come in. And frankly, that would be a circus to bring all those witnesses in, to bring the victims families, to bring my clients family to do all that. To do what. For what purpose? We already know the conclusion. We already know the answer. There’s no reason to do all those things. The only question is what happens to Shannon,” says Griffiths.
Wesley – Jordan’s father – disagrees.
“Three and a half years, what does that sound like? That sounds like the Parkland shooter in Florida. Four and a half years to convict him. The constitution says a speedy trial. We have lost all assemblance to the constitution as it comes to trying people for crimes. What that means, it means they’re whole system is impotent,” says Morgan.
Gilday is due back in court in May for another pretrial conference.
