Eastern KY sheriff found not guilty in basketball-related assault case
The Owsley County sheriff was found not guilty Friday in an assault case that stemmed from an altercation at a high school girls’ basketball game.
Brent Lynch, the elected sheriff in Owsley County, was accused of rushing the basketball court and striking a Perry County Central High School student during a December 2021 contest. Perry County Central was playing Owsley County, where Lynch, 47, was a coach. He was charged with fourth degree assault, a misdemeanor.
In a bench trial Friday in Breathitt County, Lynch was found not guilty by Judge Gary Salyers, online court records show.
“I was a father and a coach trying to protect not only my players but my daughters in the same sense,” Lynch told Fox56 on Monday.
Lynch said there were two Owsley County players on the ground during the incident.
“I was more or less trying to protect them and it got twisted and misconstrued to me inevitably assaulting a juvenile,” Lynch told the TV station.