Man convicted of killing UK player in ‘90s back in court in another new case

The man convicted of the 1994 murder of University of Kentucky football player Trent DiGiuro was drunk at a CVS pharmacy in January when he loudly asked a woman if she wanted him to perform a sexual act on her, court records show.

Shane Ragland is due back in court in December before Franklin District Judge Kathy R. Mangeot, who is monitoring Ragland’s mental health and batterer’s intervention program treatment after Ragland pleaded guilty in February to disorderly conduct and public intoxication in the drug store case.

Ragland was sentenced to 30 days in jail — 20 of which were suspended — on the disorderly conduct charge. He paid $50 for the public intoxication charge.

Ragland’s public defender did not immediately respond to a request for comment Sunday.

According to a January 29 arrest citation, Ragland was inside a CVS pharmacy in Frankfort when he propositioned the woman, causing “annoyance and alarm (that) served no legitimate purpose.”

Ragland smelled strongly of alcohol, according the the citation.

He also pleaded guilty in February to fourth-degree assault for a separate, 2024 incident in which he was accused of running over his mother and her friend in his electric wheelchair and threatening to kill them.

According to news reports, Ragland has used a wheelchair since suffering a spinal cord injury in a 2012 traffic crash.

Ragland’s mother told police her son had forced her out of her house and was refusing to let her back in on the day of the incident, and that he had been threatening her for months.

As part of his guilty plea in that case, Ragland’s terroristic threatening charge was dropped.

Ragland was sentenced to 12 months in jail, with six months suspended. He was required to comply with an emergency protective order, get a mental health assessment and follow the assessment’s recommendations.

As part of his most recent guilty plea, a July 2 report from Deaton and Deaton, a counseling and consulting firm in Frankfort, said Ragland “reported a history of mental health struggles that are currently untreated.”

A counselor recommended Ragland receive individual and batterer’s intervention group therapy and a full psychological evaluation.

Trent DiGiuro murder

Trent DiGiuro, an offensive lineman for UK, was shot and killed July 17, 1994, while celebrating his upcoming 21st birthday outside his home in Lexington.

The case was unsolved until 2000, when Shane Ragland’s ex-girlfriend came forward and said he had killed the Oldham County native.

Ragland, a member of a prominent Frankfort family, allegedly held a grudge over being blackballed from the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity.

Ragland used a sniper’s rifle to kill the 6-foot-2, 277-pound DiGiuro. According to a statement from Ragland’s ex-girlfriend, Aimee Lloyd, Ragland lived a few houses down from DiGiuro.

Ragland told Lloyd he saw a party at DiGiuro’s on the night of the shooting, put a rifle in a bag and rode a bicycle to an area across the street from DiGiuro’s home.

Ragland shot DiGiuro in the head while DiGiuro sat on the front porch of his home, Lloyd said.

Ragland was sentenced in 2002 to 30 years in prison, but the Kentucky Supreme Court overturned the conviction in 2006 when it was discovered an FBI agent lied during a pretrial conference.

A graduate from UK, Ragland later pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, and he was released from jail in 2006 after receiving credit for time served.

DiGiuro’s family sued Ragland, and in 2008, the family was awarded $63.3 million, including $3.3 million in lost wages. It was the largest amount awarded in Fayette County and the second-largest ever in Kentucky.

Digiuro’s murder has been the subject of television specials on Oxygen Network and NBC’s “Dateline.”

Ragland has faced several legal cases since his 2006 release.

In addition to the recent guilty pleas, WAVE-TV reported in 2014 that domestic violence charges against Ragland had been dropped.

The charges were filed after his girlfriend claimed he tried to hit her in the head with a metal rod, tried to run her over with his wheelchair and repeatedly threatened to kill her, the station reported.

In 2013, he was convicted in Franklin District Court of alcohol intoxication in a public place and possessing an open alcohol beverage container in a vehicle, according to court records.

This story was originally published September 21, 2025 at 3:24 PM.