LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A federal appeals court ruled a wrongful conviction lawsuit filed on behalf of a Louisville woman pardoned by ex-Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin can move forward, overturning a lower judge's ruling throwing out the suit.
In July 2021, U.S. District Judge Charles Simpson dismissed Johnetta Carr's lawsuit against Louisville police because Bevin's pardon didn't make clear she was innocent.
Despite Carr's claims that there is plenty of evidence pointing to her innocence in the 2005 slaying of her boyfriend when she was 16, Bevin's pardon simply restored her rights as a citizen and noted that Carr was a good person and "God clearly has his hand on her."
Simpson declined "to find that the mere issuance of a pardon, without language that questions or discredits a judicial finding of guilt, appropriately invalidates a criminal conviction," according to his ruling.
Another wrongful conviction lawsuit filed on behalf of a man pardoned by Bevin was thrown out for the same reason.
In that case, Keith West had filed suit against former Louisville Police Detective Mark Handy, who pleaded guilty last year to tampering with physical evidence in West's two 1997 manslaughter convictions.
On Thursday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled that a pardon in Kentucky "regardless of its implications for the question of innocence" invalidates the conviction and "removes all legal consequences."
Elliot Slosar, a Chicago-based attorney who represents Carr, and West, said the motions to dismiss filed by the city "are representative of a strategy that puts delay before truth and justice.
"... We are thrilled Johnetta will have her case heard on the merits where we can further demonstrate she was framed for a murder she did not commit," Slosar said in an interview. "We hope and expect Johnetta will be significantly compensated for the injustice."Â
In her lawsuit, Carr claims she was 16 when police accused her of murdering her boyfriend and that during the course of the investigation, detectives fabricated and coerced witnesses into saying that she was involved with his murder.
Planes Adolphe, Carr's boyfriend at the time, was found strangled to death on Oct. 23, 2005, outside of his Louisville apartment on Kingston Avenue. His wallet and cab that he drove for work was stolen. He was 36.
In May 2008, Carr entered an Alford plea to second-degree manslaughter in the case meaning she maintained her innocence but acknowledged that prosecutors had enough evidence for a conviction.
She was sentenced to 20 years in prison but was released on parole in December 2009.
Slosar said the dismissal of West's lawsuit should also be overturned. An appeal of West's dismissal was postponed until the Carr case was decided.Â
U.S. District Court Judge Greg Stivers had ruled that the pardon issued by Bevin did not invalidate West's conviction.
"West's pardon from Governor Bevin makes no reference to his guilt or innocence," Stivers ruled. "A general gubernatorial pardon in Kentucky does not necessarily indicate that the recipient is innocent."
In the West case, Bevin wrote he was granting a "full and unconditional pardon" and restoring his rights as a citizen.
Slosar has said the law regarding whether a lawsuit can be filed based on a pardon is largely settled in other parts of the country and the dismissals were simply a way for the 6th Circuit to create its own precedent.
In its ruling, the three-member panel acknowledged "we have never previously considered whether a pardoned individual can pursue a … claim relating to her conviction."
The appeals court found that other courts around the country had upheld cases arguing a pardon erased a criminal conviction.
"We join our sister circuits in holding that a pardoned individual has had her conviction expunged by executive order," according to the ruling.
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