LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A federal judge has denied a request from Kentucky State Police asking him to rebuke a prominent civil rights lawyer for statements he made about troopers after a controversial pardon by former Gov. Matt Bevin.
In fact, U.S. District Judge Hanly Ingram said that even “further discussion" of the state police motion that Chicago-based attorney Elliot Slosar retract alleged misleading and prejudicial statements would be a “waste” of court resources.
The February request from police lawyers followed a December press conference at which Slosar defended Patrick Baker, who was convicted of killing a man during a home invasion in Knox County in 2014. Slosar blamed Baker's arrest on corrupt or incompetent troopers.
Bevin pardoned Baker during his final days in office in December, writing in his order that the evidence against Baker was “sketchy at best."
A lawyer for state police claimed that Slosar "made inflammatory and prejudicial statements" about troopers who investigated Baker and are also defendants in two ongoing lawsuits against state police.
Attorney Alea Amber Arnett wrote in motions that Slosar's comments were inaccurate and threatened to influence potential jurors in the cases. She asked that Slosar be admonished -- essentially a reprimand -- and forced to correct the record and issue a press release.
But in an order filed Thursday, Judge Ingram called it an “extraordinary request” and said he had “no authority” to force Slosar to issue a retraction or press release.
And Ingram ruled that admonishing Slosar was “unnecessary,” as Slosar had agreed in a response to follow rules of professional conduct, arguing he had done nothing wrong.
“To further discuss the motion would be to waste judicial resources given the complete lack of any authority for the first form of relief requested,” Ingram ruled.
Ingram noted that KSP's motion and Slosar's response were "filled with acerbic finger-pointing and condemnation."
He warned both sides that, “going forward in this case, the finger-pointing and criticism contained in the motion and response serve only to undermine the presentation of the merits of the case to the Court.”
The Baker pardon drew national scrutiny because his family raised $21,500 for Bevin at a political fundraiser. Baker's two co-defendants are still in prison.
But Slosar told the media on Dec. 17 that Baker was wrongfully convicted after misconduct by Kentucky State Police, who allegedly ignored evidence and a different suspect.
Slosar specifically attacked the credibility of Det. Bryan Johnson and Det. Jason York, among other troopers who investigated Baker, telling reporters they have been named in two federal wrongful conviction lawsuits and have "made startling admissions" of misconduct, including giving false grand jury testimony and falsifying search warrant affidavits.
Slosar, who also represents plaintiffs in the pending wrongful conviction lawsuits, called for an independent investigation of the troopers as well as an investigation into overall corruption within the state police agency.
State police have defended the work investigators did in the Baker case and noted the conviction was upheld by higher courts.
Copyright 2020 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.
