Wisam Khalil was brought from Metro Corrections to a holdover area in Jefferson district court and was talking to his attorney about his domestic violence case when he bolted through a door into the courtroom, down an escalator and toward the exit before being caught.Â
A new attorney for David Fortney, Ramon McGee, argued that Fortney was “an innocent third party” who was the only one suffering by losing $75,000 in property and argued that appellate courts have ruled on the excessiveness of similar rulings.
The judge had ruled that if Vernon Jackson turned himself in within 10 days, she would reconsider her order. Jackson was caught within two weeks and the judge said the pastor didn't have anything to do with his capture.
Vernon Jackson's escape after three days of trial but shortly before jurors declared they could not reach a verdict created a legal conundrum as to whether a pastor who paid Jackson’s $70,000 bond would have to forfeit it.
A Louisville minister forfeited a $70,000 bond Thursday because a defendant on trial for attempted murder fled before the jury reached a verdict, and, in doing so, violated the conditions of his release.
Did Vernon Jackson fulfill the conditions of his bond by showing up for trial, or does the man who put up his bond have to forfeit it because Jackson wasn’t there for the verdict?
"If he had come back, he would have been free. Now he's guilty of escape."
The Shelby County Sheriff's Office said he was found after about two hours on the run.
Kentucky State Police has asked the public to be on the lookout.
Police say he had to be tased after telling a sheriff's deputy "I'm going to kill you."
