‘He took the life of another human.’ UK grad sentenced to 30 years in Lexington shooting
A man convicted in the fatal 2018 shooting of a man near the University of Kentucky campus asked for a second chance in court on Thursday, but a judge ultimately followed the recommendation of a jury and sentenced him to decades in prison.
Chase Helvey, 26, was sentenced to 30 years on his murder conviction, Judge Thomas L. Travis ruled Thursday. He will get credit for the 565 days he has already been incarcerated, and his 30-year sentence will run concurrently with a 15-year sentence for first-degree assault and one-year sentence for evidence tampering.
Helvey was found guilty in September in the death of 36-year-old James Potter and an attack on Rebecca Richardson.
“I really empathize with y’all, I’m sorry for your loss,” Helvey told Potter’s family during sentencing Thursday. “I know drugs have ruined all three of our lives.”
Helvey told the judge that this was his “first offense” and asked that the rest of his life and accomplishments — he graduated in May 2016 with a degree from the Gatton College of Business — be considered during the decision of his fate.
“No matter how far gone a person can be, whether it’s drugs or criminal behavior or whatever, every life is equal,” Helvey said. “Everyone deserves a second chance. Everyone can be saved.”
The jury heard about Helvey’s past accomplishments and thoroughly considered them before making their recommendation that Helvey be imprisoned for 30 years, assistant commonwealth’s attorney Andrea Williams argued.
“The defendant just said that this is a ‘pretty major crime,’ this is the most major crime,” Williams said after Helvey addressed the judge Thursday. “He took the life of another human being. And the beating of Rebecca was a planned and calculated offense. He lured her over there that night to beat her.”
During Helvey’s trial, prosecutors said that he used a friend’s cellphone to lure Richardson to a house on Maxwelton Court house on the night of the attack because he felt he’d been cheated out of $90.
Richardson was suffering from drug addiction at the time and had resorted to sex work, she testified during Helvey’s trial. Potter also struggled with addiction and would drive her to her appointments, she said.
Helvey paid $100 in February of 2018 for time with Richardson, but he was unable to perform sexually, she told jurors. Richardson gave Helvey back $10 and Potter told him they would make up the rest at a later date.
Helvey sent threatening messages to Richardson demanding the money before eventually posing as someone else to get her to come to the Maxwelton Court house for an appointment, prosecutors said. When Richardson got to the house, Helvey beat her severely before going outside to shoot Potter in the head, multiple witnesses testified during the trial.
Potter was in his truck and tried to drive away before he was shot, prosecutors said during the trial.
Potter’s truck went up an embankment and struck a building after he was shot. University of Kentucky police handled the scene the night of the shooting, thinking that they had responded to a DUI crash, officers testified during the trial.
Helvey was able to spend a brief moment with his mother in the courtroom Thursday before being remanded into custody.
Violent offenders must serve 85 percent of their prison sentence before being eligible for parole.
This story was originally published November 14, 2019 at 11:36 AM.
