A Northern Kentucky man has been sentenced for threatening Kenton County’s top prosecutor and a judge who oversaw his prior cases.
Brian Tucker, 49, of Morning View, Kentucky, was ordered by Kenton County Circuit Judge Kate Molloy on Aug. 29 to five years of probation, court records show.
Police said Tucker threatened to shoot and kill Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders, and also threatened Kenton County Circuit Judge Patricia Summe, who presided over Tucker’s 2019 felony arson trial and a subsequent lawsuit.
Tucker entered an Alford plea to charges of retaliating against a participant in a legal process, low-level felonies. The plea means Tucker is maintaining his innocence but admits prosecutors had enough evidence to secure a conviction.
Two special prosecutors, Jackie Steele and Brian Wright, were appointed to the case. Tucker’s attorney did not immediately return a phone call from The Enquirer.
Man convicted of threatening judge, prosecutor said ‘ain’t none of them goddamn safe’
The investigation began when a friend of Tucker’s reported to police that he had been making threats, according to a criminal complaint. Investigators said Tucker told a friend he wanted to harm Sanders, the county’s elected felony prosecutor, and Summe because he was unhappy about not receiving a favorable outcome in a lawsuit.
When Boone County Sheriff’s deputies arrested Tucker in November, they confiscated a handgun, Kenton County police detective Jill Stulz said during a court hearing in December. Stulz added that more firearms were seized during the execution of a search warrant at Tucker’s home.
Prosecutors signaled in court filings that they planned to offer evidence at trial that Tucker’s ownership of those firearms was proof of his “preparation and plan” to carry out the threats.
Court records show Tucker was indicted in 2018 on counts of complicity to commit arson and insurance fraud, but was ultimately acquitted of those charges at trial.
Tucker sued the Kentucky Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company and Green Light Fire Investigations following his trial and alleged the companies provided false evidence to law enforcement that implicated him in a 2016 fire that destroyed his friend’s home. Summe dismissed the lawsuit with prejudice – meaning it cannot be refiled.
Stulz said investigators confirmed Tucker attends the same gym as Sanders and there were instances in which he entered the gym shortly after Sanders. The complaint states Tucker “articulated plans to either sneak up behind Sanders and slit his throat or hide in the woods and ‘snipe’ Sanders with a rifle.”
In a phone call from jail, Tucker said that “if somebody wanted to off Sanders, all they had to do was sit on the hill and wait for him to come out of the gym,” according to Stulz. He also said in a jail call that “if they bring me a check of $10,000, ain’t none of them goddamn safe.”
Prosecutor says law criminalizing threats to public officials is ‘ridiculous,’ not serious enough
“It’s ridiculous that Kentucky law considers threatening the lives of public officials to be a ‘low-level, non-violent offense,'” Sanders said in a statement. “Hopefully, we won’t have to wait for a legislator to be threatened before this is fixed.”
“I hope Mr. Tucker gets mental health treatment while on probation and that I never have to hear about him again,” Sanders said, adding that he’s satisfied with the outcome of the case.
As part of his probation, Tucker is under court order not to own firearms and to stay away from Sanders and Summe. Molloy signed an order releasing Tucker from custody on Aug. 29.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Kenton County’s top prosecutor hopes to ‘never have to hear about’ man who threatened him
Reporting by Quinlan Bentley, Cincinnati Enquirer / Cincinnati Enquirer
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