KY Supreme Court upholds sentence of man charged with killing police officer
The Kentucky's highest court upheld a sentence for a former prison guard convicted of murdering a London police officer.
Casey Byrd, 39, was convicted and sentenced to serve 20 years in prison for a fatal drunk driving crash that killed 26-year-old police officer Logan Medlock in October 2022.
Thursday, the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled that Byrd’s original murder conviction should stand.
“Byrd took certain risks when he chose to drive under the influence,” the Supreme Court’s opinion read. “Displaying remorse after the fact when he saw the consequences of those risks does not negate the fact that he nevertheless disregarded those unreasonable risks and made the decision to operate a vehicle under the influence.”
During his three-day trial, Byrd testified he had been at a friend’s house before the wreck to watch a University of Kentucky football game, where he drank several beers and some bourbon.
Byrd was on his way to see a woman he was interested in when he ran a red light and hit Medlock’s driver-side door at an intersection, according to testimony. Byrd’s blood-alcohol level was nearly four times the level at which someone is presumed drunk in Kentucky.
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Byrd, of Oneida, Tennessee, had worked as an officer at the federal prison in McCreary County before the crash.
Byrd filed an appeal, saying that he should not have been charged with wanton murder, but should have been charged with vehicular homicide instead.
However, at the time Byrd’s pickup truck crashed into Medlock’s police cruiser, vehicular homicide was not a formal charge under Kentucky law.
The Supreme Court noted that vehicular homicide was created by the General Assembly as a “gap-filler,” and intended for individuals who caused fatal accidents, but maybe did not do so with “reckless disregard” or “extreme indifference to human life.”
Instead, they said Byrd’s conviction of a wanton murder should apply, because he disregarded the safety of others when he chose to drink and drive.
“Given that the jury found that Byrd met the statutory elements of wanton murder, and Byrd does not allege that there is insufficient evidence to support such a finding, his conviction of wanton murder must stand,” the ruling states.
