Former prison guard guilty of murder in DUI crash that killed Kentucky police officer
A man who got drunk watching a football game before crashing into a police officer and killing him has been convicted of murder.
A jury returned the verdict against Casey P. Byrd, 37, late Thursday after deliberating more than five hours.
The jury recommended a sentence of 20 years in prison.
Byrd, of Oneida, Tenn., crashed into a police cruiser driven by Logan Medlock, 26, an officer with the London Police Department, early Oct. 30, 2022.
Byrd, an officer at the federal prison in McCreary County before the crash, had been at a friend’s house in Laurel County in the hours before the crash to watch a University of Kentucky — University of Tennessee football game.
In testimony Thursday, Byrd said he thought he drank eight to 10 beers in about six hours while watching football, and then had several drinks of bourbon in a short time.
Byrd had taken an overnight bag with him and planned to stay the night at his friend’s house.
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However, he testified a woman he was interested in seeing contacted him during the evening and asked him to come see her, so he left not long after having the bourbon.
“I felt that I was OK at that very point,” Byrd told the jury.
Byrd crashed his pickup truck into the driver’s side of Medlock’s police cruiser at an intersection near downtown London, pushing both vehicles into a cemetery.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Jackie Steele told jurors that Byrd was driving 70 mph in a 35 mph zone just before the crash and ran a red light, hitting Medlock.
Byrd’s blood-alcohol level was later measured at nearly four times the level at which someone is presumed drunk in Kentucky, Steele said.
Byrd testified he didn’t remember the drive into London on a rural road.
‘A bad decision’
Byrd wept on the witness stand when he recalled being told a police officer had died in the crash. He talked of the guilt he feels and said he thinks of Medlock’s family every day and prays for them.
“It was a bad decision to get behind the wheel,” he said.
Medlock was married and had a young son.
The jury had to decide if Byrd’s conduct constituted murder, second-degree manslaughter or reckless homicide.
The stakes were different. The murder charge is punishable by a term of between 20 and 50 years in prison, or life, while reckless homicide carries a sentence of one to five years.
Byrd and his defense attorneys, Jeremy and Kerri Bartley, did not dispute that he drove after drinking and crashed into Medlock.
A conviction for reckless homicide — which Byrd’s attorneys advocated — would only have required a finding that he acted recklessly, for instance.
The murder charge carried a higher standard, including a requirement that the jury found Byrd acted with “extreme indifference” to human life.
Jeremy Bartley argued the higher standard didn’t apply to Byrd’s conduct.
The fact that Byrd had made plans to stay over at his friend’s house so he wouldn’t have to drive after the get-together, and his deep remorse about Medlock’s death, showed that Byrd was not indifferent to the lives of others, Bartley said.
“It’s nowhere near extreme indifference,” Bartley said of Byrd’s conduct. “Is it criminal? Yes, but it was not murder.”
‘Not an accident’
Steele, however, argued Byrd’s high level of intoxication, along with speeding and running a red light, constituted extreme indifference to the lives of others.
“This was not an accident,” Steele said.
The jury ultimately agreed, and they also convicted Byrd on two charges of criminal mischief based on damage the wreck caused to two grave markers, and a charge of drunken driving.
More than two dozen family members and supporters packed one side of the courtroom behind the prosecution team. Only Byrd’s parents and a family friend sat behind him when court got underway Thursday morning.
The trial had been moved from London to Bowling Green by Circuit Judge Greg Lay.
Byrd has been in jail since the wreck, unable to post a $1 million cash bond. He will receive credit for that time against his sentence.
Byrd’s sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 26, but with a jury recommending the minimum prison time for the murder conviction, the sentence will be 20 years.
Brian Hogan, a state probation and parole officer, said that with a 20-year sentence, Byrd would be eligible for a parole hearing after serving 17 years.
The board would not have to release him early.
This story was originally published August 9, 2024 at 9:25 AM.
