LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The Kentucky Parole Board voted Monday morning to deny parole for Michael Carneal, who will now have to serve out the life sentence he was given for killing three students at Paducah's Heath High School in 1997.
The board, meeting in Frankfort, voted 7-0 to deny parole, after deliberating in private for about 30 minutes. Carneal watched the vote over Zoom from the Kentucky State Reformatory in La Grange. He sat hunched in a small chair as Kentucky Parole Board Chair Ladeidra Jones asked each member for their vote.
Jones then told Carneal that “due to the seriousness of your crime” he would serve out his life sentence in prison.
Carneal said only, “Yes, ma’am” and quickly left.
Carneal is 25 years into the life sentence he was given after pleading guilty to murder, attempted murder and robbery.
He was 14 years old on Dec. 1, 1997, when he fired the stolen pistol at a before-school prayer group in the lobby of Heath High School, killing 14-year-old Nicole Hadley, 17-year-old Jessica James and 15-year-old Kayce Steger. Five others were wounded and survived, but some had critical injuries that changed their lives.
Three students were killed in the 1997 shooting at Heath High School in Paducah, Kentucky (left to right) Jessica James, 17, and Kayce Steger 15 and Nicole Hadley, 14. Five others were injured.
Carneal, who is now 39, was given the maximum sentence possible at the time for someone his age: life in prison with the possibility of parole.
The Kentucky Parole Board released a statement following the hearing.
"The Kentucky Parole Board’s decision was made in compliance with Kentucky law and in effort to maintain a delicate balance between public safety, victim rights, reintegration of the offender and recidivism. The board is prohibited by law to discuss today’s deliberations as they occurred in closed session."
The hearings that began last week were Carneal's first opportunity for parole and he will not get another chance to get out of prison. The full parole board could have released him or deferred the decision, but the board voted to order him to spend the rest of his life in prison without further hope of release.
Missy Jenkins Smith, who had considered Carneal a friend before she was paralyzed by one of his bullets, said she couldn't sleep Sunday night because she was so anxious for the decision. She said she was in shock after hearing it.
“It’s so hard to believe I don’t have to worry about it again,” she said. “I guess I'll realize it later. It will sink in.”
Jenkins Smith watched the hearing from her home in Kirksey with another victim, Kelly Hard Alsip, and their families. Her oldest son, who is 15, had been worried that if Carneal were released he would come to their house, she said.
Carneal spoke on a video conference to the parole panel last week from the Kentucky State Reformatory in La Grange and said he deserves to be freed.
"I can't even imagine the way I have made all these people, not just victims but the victims family and friends but also the community — the destruction I’ve caused in their life," Carneal said. "I don't know that honestly. it depends on when you asked me. Sometimes I think I would just deserve to be killed and others times I think I could do some good for a lot of people. It would be beneficial that I were released some day."
Carneal said he has been receiving therapy and taking psychiatric medications in prison but admitted that he still hears voices. As recently as a couple of days ago, he heard voices telling him to jump off the stairs.
A two-member panel of the parole board told Carneal that his inmate file lists his mental health prognosis as "poor" and says that even with mental health services, he is still experiencing paranoid thoughts with violent imagery.
Heath High School shooter Michael Carneal was 14 (left), when he was escorted out of the McCracken County Courthouse after his arraignment in Paducah, Ky., Jan. 15, 1998. Carneal was sentenced to life and is now 39 and up for parole (right). Images courtesy Associated Press and the Kentucky Department of Corrections.
Asked how the board could be assured that he would not act on those thoughts, Carneal said he has learned to ignore them and hasn't acted on them for many years.
Carneal attributed the shooting to a combination of factors that included his mental health and immaturity, but added that it was "not justified at all. There's no excuse for it at all."
He ended his testimony to the parole panel with an apology. "I would like to say to you and the victims and their friends and families and the whole community that I'm sorry for what I did. I know it’s not going to change things or make anything better, but I am sorry for what I did."
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- Panel splits decision on parole for Heath High School shooter Michael Carneal
- 25 years after Kentucky school shooting, a chance at parole
- Victims of 1997 Kentucky school shooting testify to parole board considering Michael Carneal's release
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