‘This has gone on so long.’ 13 years later, 2 sentenced in killing of Lexington man
Thirteen years after the death of a Lexington bar owner, a man and woman tied to the 2009 killing were sentenced in court on Tuesday for their involvement.
Rachel Lynn Martin, 36, and Edward Carroll, 40, were sentenced by Fayette Circuit Judge Jeffrey Taylor on amended charges accepted as part of a plea deal in October 2022.
Carroll was sentenced to 10 years for a charge of second-degree manslaughter. He faced charges of complicity to murder and tampering with physical evidence, according to court documents. The tampering with physical evidence charge was dropped as a result of the plea deal, according to court documents.
Martin was sentenced to 10 years on a facilitating murder charge. The facilitating murder charge originally carried a sentence of five years, but was enhanced due to a persistent felony offender charge, according to court documents. She originally faced three charges including complicity to murder, tampering with physical evidence and persistent felony offender. The tampering charge was dropped as part of the plea deal.
The two were arrested 11 years after the death of a 71-year-old man, Charlie Sowers, who was found with a head injury at his Lexington home on Augusta Drive in May 2009.
Sowers, the owner of Charlie’s Restaurant and Lounge on Bryan Station Road, was pronounced dead at University of Kentucky Hospital. The cause of death was blunt force trauma.
Victim’s daughter: Sentence a ‘slap on the wrist.’
Sowers’ daughter, Sharon McKinney, spoke and said that Martin and Carroll went that night in May to rob their dad, which resulted in torture and ultimately her father’s death. She said the sentence was a “slap on the wrist.”
“There were two of you up against a 71-year-old man,” McKinney said. “My daddy always told us if someone tries to rob you, hand over the money, no matter if it is a quarter or a $100. He said, ‘No life is worth it.’”
According to McKinney, her father knew Carroll, and had been robbed by him previously. She stated her dad did not press charges against him, because he claimed at the time that Carroll was just a kid making bad choices.
McKinney said the police failed the family in their investigation following Sowers’ murder, and they knew it was Carroll and Martin all along. The case was closed by police and reopened four separate times before charges were filed against Martin and Carroll, according to McKinney.
“We did not mediate down because it was fair, we mediated down because this has gone on so long that some of the witnesses had died. But you all knew that, and the case grows weaker, and you all are still living,” McKinney said. “We did agree to mediate down, but you deserve more than what you are getting.
“This is a slap on the wrist, and we did not want to mediate, but we didn’t want to go on any longer.”
Defense asks for probation
Martin’s defense attorney, Andrea Kendall, asked the court for a criminal probated sentence for Martin, stating she was a victim herself at the hands of Carroll.
“(Martin) has continued to be tormented by drugs and is a victim of domestic violence,” she said.
Martin stated she struggled to find her voice on Tuesday, as she had in the past.
“Fear leads to silence and irrational thinking that everything is OK, when people on the outside can see that it is not,” Martin said. “I am truly sorry for the pain and the sorrow that has inflicted your family. I can only pray that one day you find peace and healing.”
Taylor said while the court was mindful and sought to pay attention to domestic violence and protect victims, it was also mindful to the elderly.
“This is a horrific case to say the least,” he said. “The amount of time that has gone by in this case, I just can’t imagine what it has done to the families and the friends on both sides. The court can’t ignore the role that was play by both defendants in this case and how this has gone on for so long.
“I have considered probation hard. I considered it last night, this morning, and I just feel that it is important and necessary that it be denied,” Taylor said.
