UK student was killed 5 years ago. Lexington trial of man accused delayed again.
A Lexington man who has been in custody on a murder charge for five years will not go to trial before May in the death of a University of Kentucky student, a Fayette circuit judge ruled Wednesday.
Justin Smith, 23, who was previously scheduled for trial Aug. 3, is accused of killing Jonathan Krueger, who was a 22-year-old UK student. Judge Ernesto Scorsone ruled Wednesday that Smith’s trial date could be pushed back to May 10.
Smith is one of three accused of killing Krueger during an apparent robbery. Krueger was shot in the chest on East Maxwell Street while he was walking with a friend in the early morning hours of April 17, 2015, according to previous testimony from Detective Reed Bowles.
Smith and his attorney Kim Green argued in a motion that they had not been able to properly prepare for their trial because of COVID-19 restrictions on travel and jail visitation. The restrictions followed a long-awaited but mostly inconclusive state Supreme Court decision on the defendant’s eligibility for the death penalty.
“Under ideal conditions, it may have been possible to prepare for the addition of the death penalty at trial with the four month’s notice provided by the Kentucky Supreme Court, but the current conditions resulting from the pandemic have made preparation for trial effectively impossible,” Smith’s counsel said in the motion.
In exhibitions filed to the court, an investigator and a mitigation specialist said they’d had great difficulty speaking with Smith and witnesses due to COVID-19 restrictions. They both said the virtual meetings they’ve been trying to conduct have been ineffective.
Joshua Powell, an investigator for Smith, said he has tried to do 30 video interviews, and only about 20 percent of them have worked properly. He cited distorted sound and issues with the jail computer that Smith was using.
“Several pertinent witnesses in this case live out of state, which complicates this issue,” Powell said in an affidavit.
Mitigation specialist Suzanne Hooper said she previously worked and lived in Lexington, but moved to Florida after Smith’s case started. She planned to commute to Kentucky to handle her work here. Under guidance provided by health officials, she couldn’t travel to Kentucky, and video interviews had been unproductive, Hooper said.
State prosecutors did not speak during Smith’s virtual court appearance Wednesday, but the state had previously said in a motion to deny a lower bond that “at this point, all parties should be prepared and ready to go forward with that trial.”
Green — Smith’s counsel — also argued that the preparation of the case had changed after the Supreme Court said the death penalty shouldn’t be excluded from consideration yet if Smith is found guilty.
The Kentucky Supreme Court said Smith and Efrain Diaz Jr., the other man charged in the murder of Krueger, were not able to appeal the death penalty yet because they hadn’t been convicted.
Scorsone had previously ruled that it would be unconstitutional to impose the death penalty on those under 21. Smith was 18 and Diaz was 20 when Krueger was shot in the chest during a robbery.
There was a third person charged in the case, Roman Gonzalez Jr., but prosecutors could not seek a death sentence against him because he was 17 at the time of the slaying. In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court barred the death penalty for crimes committed by those under the age of 18. Both Diaz and Smith told police they believed Gonzalez shot Krueger
Scorsone said Wednesday that the decision on the death penalty for Diaz and Smith will wait until after the trial due to the latest state supreme court ruling.
Green argued in a motion that Kentucky pursues the death penalty disproportionately when a Black person is charged with murder against a white person. The argument was based on a study completed several years ago. Smith’s counsel also said pursuing the death penalty leads to more Black jurors being excused from the jury pool because they’re more likely to oppose the death penalty.
This story was originally published June 24, 2020 at 3:03 PM.