LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Karson Reitz was sentenced Thursday in connection to a 2021 fatal double shooting at a Roosters restaurant in Okolona.
In December 2024, the jury convicted Karson Reitz of two counts of manslaughter and one count of wanton endangerment after he opened fire in the crowded restaurant in December 2021.
He was sentenced to 17 years in prison Thursday and has to serve 85% of it before going on probation. The jury originally recommended the 17 years in prison.
"I will not change the jury's recommendation," Judge Sarah Clay said. "I think 17 years is an appropriate sentence."
Despite the recommendation, defense attorneys made a motion for probation. Reitz addressed the court and apologized to the families of the victims.
Prosecutors were strongly against a sentence modification in the case.
Karson Reitz (center) was charged in the fatal shooting of 48-year-old Michael Miller (left) and 51-year-old Bradley Cross (right) at the Preston Highway Roosters location on Dec. 23, 2021.
Reitz was charged with shooting 48-year-old Michael Miller and 51-year-old Bradley Cross at the Preston Highway Roosters location on Dec. 23, 2021. Reitz's first trial ended in a mistrial in November 2023.
According to court documents, Reitz was seen on surveillance video shooting the two men inside the crowded dining room. A bartender who witnessed the incident said the restaurant was packed that night and that there was a fistfight between Reitz and Miller before the shooting.
An arrest report for Reitz said he knew both victims. The bartender said Reitz, his dad and the Miller family were regulars at the Okolona restaurant.
During the trial, the defense said Reitz shot Miller after Miller allegedly knocked his father out and one of the four bullets hit Cross by mistake.
He had been on home incarceration but, after the guilty verdict was taken into custody and had his bond revoked.
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