Woman sues Louisville police claiming she was wrongfully convicted of 2005 murder

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A woman who was originally charged with murder as a teenager in 2006 says Louisville police framed her for the crime.

Johnetta Carr claims in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that 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 October 23, 2005, outside of his Louisville apartment on Kingston Ave. His wallet and cab that he drove for work was stolen. He was 36.

Detectives arrested Carr and charged her with murder in January 2006. She was indicted as an adult in April 2006.

In May 2008, Carr entered an Alford plea to second-degree manslaughter in the case meaning she maintained her innocence but acknowledged that prosecutors could convict her.

She was sentenced to 20 years in prison but was released on parole in December 2009.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court Tuesday, claims the lead detective in the case, Tony Finch, coerced a co-defendant in the case to admit that Carr was involved in the murder. According to the suit, the co-defendant, Carla Sowers, almost immediately recanted the statement.

The lawsuit also claims that a jailhouse informant told police that Carr committed the murder but also later recanted the statement.

"The misconduct that stole the formative years of Johnetta’s life is not an aberration, but rather, consistent with the pattern and practice of how Louisville officers operate," said civil rights attorney Elliot Slosar, who is representing Carr.

Slosar argues in the lawsuit that Carr had a strong alibi in the case that included witnesses saying she was spending the night at a friend's when Adolphe was murdered

The lawsuit presents a different suspect that Slosar claims police never thoroughly investigated. Steve Louis and Adolphe were seen arguing days before the murder. Witnesses claim Louis threatened to kill Adolphe multiple times, according to the suit.

"Finch decided to manufacture false and fabricated evidence to frame Ms. Carr and her co-defendants,," the lawsuit says.

Carr was pardoned by former Gov. Matt Bevin in December 2019. Her parole was completed in 2018.

This is the second wrongful conviction suit filed against Finch. in 2012, Kerry Porter filed suit claiming Finch mishandled his case in which he was charged with murder. Ultimately, the case was settled for $7.5 million.