Machete attack that killed 1 and injured two leads to guilty plea from Kentucky man

A Pulaski County man accused of a brutal 2017 homicide in a machete attack changed his plea Wednesday morning to guilty, according to WKYT.

Cody Hall, who was accused of killing 50-year-old Scott Holbrook with a machete and gun in July 2017, pleaded guilty Wednesday to murder, assault and wanton endangerment charges. He assaulted Wilma Hislope, 50, and Ashley Coot, 20, with the machete.

When a deputy and a sergeant found Hall armed with a gun and machete after the attack, he dropped his weapons but then “rushed the officers and began assaulting them,” the Pulaski County sheriff’s office said. The officers used stuns guns on Hall and arrested him after a short foot chase, according to the sheriff’s office.

Holbrook was found dead inside a mobile home, and the two women were taken to a nearby hospital, the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff’s office did not say what led to the attacks.

During Wednesday’s court proceedings, Holbrook’s family members wore T-shirts that said, “Some heroes wear capes, mine wears angel wings.” Holbrook was trying to help the two women who were assaulted, a family member told WKYT, the Herald-Leader’s reporting partner.

“I protected him all his life,” Crystal Holbrook, Scott Holbrook’s sister, told WKYT. “I wish I was there to protect him that day. Always on my heart, he’s my baby brother, and I could not help him.”

A 23-year sentence was recommended for Hall, who turned 30 Saturday, WKYT reported.

This story was originally published May 8, 2019 at 12:59 PM.