Two file to run against Central Kentucky prosecutor who has been subject of controversy
Two candidates have filed to run against a Kentucky commonwealth’s attorney who has been the subject of controversy during her tenure.
Kelli Kearney and Jack Keith Eardley have filed to run against Sharon Muse Johnson in the Republican primary for 14th District commonwealth’s attorney, which serves Bourbon, Scott and Woodford counties, according to the Kentucky secretary of state’s office.
Kearney, an assistant county attorney for Scott County, announced her candidacy in a news release Friday.
Before joining the Scott County Attorney’s office, Kearney worked as an assistant attorney general in Frankfort and as a victim’s advocate in the Fayette County Commonwealth Attorney’s office, according to the release.
“I am driven to seek this role because the people of Bourbon, Woodford and Scott counties deserve a prosecutor who leverages the authority of the office to safeguard our communities,” Kearney said in the release. “I will not be afraid to take cases to trial and will employ the full extent of the law to remove criminals from our streets.”
Eardley, of Georgetown, filed to run Dec. 15, according to the secretary of state’s website.
Eardley also ran against Muse Johnson when she was elected in 2018..
Eardley is an assistant commonwealth attorney in the 13th District, which includes Garrard and Jessamine counties.
Eardley previously worked as an assistant commonwealth’s attorney for the 14th District, and, according to WKYT, he helped prosecute a man who Muse Johnson accused of kidnapping her before she became commonwealth’s attorney.
The television station reported that Gordie Shaw, Muse Johnson’s predecessor as commonwealth’s attorney, and Eardley later raised questions about discrepancies in Muse Johnson’s account of the kidnapping.
Eardley, who goes by his middle name, Keith, said in a telephone interview that he has 17 years of experience trying felony cases, and several people had asked him to run for the office.
“We have a real problem up there with our commonwealth attorney’s office,” he said. “It’s dysfunctional.”
He said there have been “a lot of amateur mistakes ... that are jeopardizing the safety of our community.”
He said his primary concern was how grand jury cases were handled.
Muse Johnson and her husband have been the subject of controversy on more than one occasion.
The Kentucky Attorney General’s office investigated Muse Johnson in 2022 after Judge Jeremy Mattox, chief judge of the 14th Judicial Circuit, reported irregularities in how cases were being presented to grand juries. It was alleged that Muse had more than 12 grand jurors present when presenting cases for indictment. The AG’s office reviewed 163 cases and recommended that many of the indictments be dismissed, the Courier-Journal reported.
Eardley said many of the cases had to be re-presented to a grand jury.
At the time, Muse Johnson said even though both sworn grand jurors and alternates were in the room during deliberations and while cases were being presented, she said she “was confident that not more than twelve grand jurors had voted,” according to a previous Herald-Leader article.
“There was never any intent to deprive a defendant of their rights or to create any procedural error,” Muse Johnson said in an exhibit to the attorney general. “In fact, it was meant to help protect the grand jury process as we have one day a month, on occasion two in Scott County, to do grand jury returns, we have serious challenges with scheduling, and have had time when non-alternate grand jurors have to step out due to knowing a defendant or leave for emergencies.”
Former Scott County Judge Brian Privett also wrote a letter to the AG’s office raising concern over ethical and legal violations committed by Muse Johnson. The attorney general found “insufficient evidence” of criminal conduct, after Privett — who was later reprimanded for his own misconduct — raised the concerns. The Attorney General’s office said it didn’t have jurisdiction over ethical matters.
Muse Johnson’s husband, Rob Johnson, an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in her office, ran unsuccessfully for circuit judge in 2022, which led to some Scott County residents filing a lawsuit to try to have him removed from the ballot.
Had he won the election, Johnson had said he would recuse himself from criminal cases so as to avoid presiding over cases handled by his wife.
Privett told the Attorney General’s office at the time that he was concerned Johnson was paid too much as a part-time prosecutor in his wife’s office and would be conflicted out of every case she was involved in if he had been elected judge. Privett also accused Muse Johnson of filming a reality show in her office that could reveal details of active investigations.
An attorney for Muse Johnson previously defended Johnson’s pay, maintained that the couple could avoid ethical issues if Johnson had been elected judge, and denied that Muse Johnson was actually filming a reality show.
“There is no reality show,” attorney R. Kenyon Meyer said. “Ms. Muse-Johnson was interviewed by a production company who wanted her to consider developing some type of concept. She never has received any compensation, and no show was ever developed. There is no factual or legal basis to Judge Privett’s allegation that there is some legal or ethical issue.”
This story was originally published January 6, 2024 at 4:45 PM.
