This is now the second time a lawsuit previously dismissed based on the lack of details in Bevin’s pardons has been overturned by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Keith West had filed suit against former detective Mark Handy, who pleaded guilty in March of last year to tampering with physical evidence in West’s two 1997 manslaughter convictions. 

Bevin’s pardon ended up prompting a judge to dismiss a suit recently – because the pardon included no finding or evidence showing the person was innocent. 

On Friday, just a few weeks after being incarcerated, the state Department of Corrections moved Mark Handy to its electronic monitoring program, meaning he will serve the rest of his time on home incarceration.

"Those facts are true," Mark Handy said after Jefferson Circuit Court Judge Olu Stevens read him the allegations behind charges of perjury and tampering with physical evidence.

Former Det. Mark Handy has agreed to plead guilty to perjury and tampering with physical evidence and spend one year in prison.   

Keith West, who was pardoned last year by former Gov. Matt Bevin, served about seven years in prison and “lost decades of his life due to the egregious misconduct of (former Det. Mark Handy) and others in the Louisville Police Department," according to the suit.

Bevin wrote on Dec. 9 that he was granting West a “full and unconditional pardon” ‘and restoring all his rights as a citizen.

Keith West last year asked a judge to throw out his two manslaughter convictions that were investigated by detective by embattled detective Mark Handy.