Conviction of Bronston man upheld by court

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Luther Sexton’s conviction on evidence tampering and disorderly conduct charges was upheld by the Kentucky Court of Appeals. Sexton was charged after he allegedly was seen videotaping young children at a pool in Burnside. Susan Wheeldon Photo

September 8, 2008

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By CHRIS HARRIS, CJ Staff Writer The Commonwealth Journal Mon Sep 08, 2008, 09:40 AM EDT

A Bronston man convicted of tampering with evidence in a case involving the videotaping of children at a local swimming pool has had his sentence upheld by the Kentucky Court of Appeals, according to the Common-wealth Attorney’s office.

Luther W. Sexton, 68, was convicted by a jury in November of 2006 of tampering with physical evidence and disorderly conduct and given a 12-year prison sentence.

Following the trial, Sexton’s Attorney, Robert Norfleet, said he didn’t feel that “the justice system worked” and that jury’s decision should be overturned because of a significant number or errors Pulaski Circuit Judge Jeffrey T. Burdette made in admitting evidence, including the admission of prior sexual abuse investigations.

However, the Court of Appeals found that Burdette had made “no error” in admitting any of the challenged evidence.

“It was clear what this man was and is,” said Assistant Common-wealth’s Attorney Jeremy Bartley of the Court of Appeals decision. “This is a great result. I hope Sexton draws his last breath in prison, because that’s the only way he won’t hurt another child.”

According to Bartley, who prosecuted Sexton’s case, evidence showed that on July 21, 2005, Sexton went to the Burnside Pool, where a group of young children from Pulaski Public Child Care were on a field trip. The group’s director noticed a man crouched near the pool with a camera taping the children. By the time authorities were contacted, the suspect had fled the scene, but one of the parents on the trip had taken the make, model and license plate of the man’s vehicle.

Deputy Troy McLin of the Pulaski County Sheriff’s Department went to Sexton’s home and asked to see the camera and video. Sexton produced a video which McLin briefly reviewed, and McLin sought a search warrant to obtain all the videotapes that he found in Sexton’s home. When the Sheriff’s Department returned with the search warrant, the tape that Sexton had earlier shown the officers could not be found, and Sexton told officers that he would not give up the tape.

Other tapes that were confiscated showed clips of naked children taken from movies. During preparation for trial, Bartley discovered that Sexton had been prosecuted in multiple states for child-oriented sexual assaults. Additionally, Sexton was on bond from Wayne County, where he was facing even more sexual abuse charges, and was ordered not to be around young children.

At trial, the officers from Ohio and Florida testified that Sexton had often taped young children and met his victims in beach and pool areas. One tape from an earlier Florida investigation showed Sexton recording young children in bathing suit and zooming in on their genitalia.

The Court of Appeals found that Sexton’s prior acts showed motive, and that the prior “experience certainly gave him motive, knowledge, and absence of mistake for tampering with physical evidence that might be used against him … Sexton was well aware that a videotape of children could be used to incriminate him in Wayne County.”

Bartley was pleased with the appeal’s outcome.

“The Court of Appeals echoed what we already knew: Judge Burdette gave this man a fair trial,” said Bartley. “Despite what his attorney would have had the jury believe, this man was preying on children and Judge Burdette made the right to decision to let the jury see him for what he was. Without this evidence, Mr. Norfleet would have misled the jury into believing that this man was doing no harm. His past caught up with him.”

Sexton remains committed to the penitentiary serving his 12-year sentence.

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Pulaski carries Girdler to win

In the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s primary election, it was impossible to miss the colorful signs dotting nearly every Pulaski roadway. The names in the race for the 15th State Senatorial District seat popped out: A.C. Donahue. Chris Girdler. Mark Polston.

Once citizens hit the ballots, however, the results mirrored the dimensions of the signs themselves: Chris Girdler stood the tallest.

Girdler, deputy district director for Congressman Harold “Hal” Rogers, ran away with the votes inside Pulaski County’s borders, earning 3,926 votes for 62.05 percent of the total number cast.

That number more than doubled the next highest vote-getter, businessman Mark Polston, who raked in 1,624 votes for 25.67 percent.

However, Polston — who owns Classic Carpet, a home-flooring business located just off the southern 914 bypass — can claim a moral victory ... three of them, in fact. In all three counties in the district other than Pulaski — those being Adair, Casey, and Russell Counties — Polston actually edged out Girdler.

In Adair, Polston beat Girdler 629 to 394. In Casey County, it was 538 to 417, and in Russell, it was 1,862 to 1,038.

Polston said he just “couldn’t pull it out with the numbers” and that “the machine worked for” Girdler in Pulaski County.

“I think that was their strategy — I think they had a Pulaski County strategy all along,” said Polston. “They played the political game well.”

Polston said the difference between his and Girdler’s campaigns was that “mine was a very, very grass roots campaign,” he said. “I did not have a political machine behind me. I understand how this process works, and in this instance, he prevailed.”

As for why Girdler didn’t take three of four counties, the winning candidate — since there are no Democrats in the race, winning the Republican primary was effectively a final victory for Girdler — said he didn’t have an answer for that.

However, “I believe things happen for a reason and I hope the long and strenuous campaign will only heighten my desire to move beyond the bitterness and partisanship of the recent past,” said Girdler.

“Regionalism is a goal of mine, and I look forward to helping all four counties,” he added, noting that he campaigned heavily in each of them.

Sen. Vernie McGaha, the long-time state senator whose seat the candidates were vying for, actually supported Polston after Liberty’s Todd Hoskins dropped out of the race earlier this month.

Donahue, a local attorney, got 556 votes in Pulaski County, 8.79 percent of the vote. He only received 145 votes in Russell County, 74 in Adair County, and 75 in Casey County, where hometown candidate Hoskins almost matched him with 71 votes despite no longer being officially in the race.

Polston said he’s “still digesting” what happened, and though “the process has been a very good experience for me,” he wouldn’t commit to running again in the future. “I wouldn’t shut the door to anything, but I’m not opening any doors either.”

Still, “I think I got a lot of people involved in the process that had not been involved before and would not have been otherwise,” he said. “A lot of people got out and worked really hard, got motivated to talk to friends and neighbors. I think a lot of people became involved through this campaign that are going to be involved for a long time.”

Girdler stressed his “positive message” and said that Rogers is a “mentor and good friend” that he would turn to for advice in dealing with a frequently combative legislative body in Frankfort, one for which Girdler hopes to help change the culture.

Girdler said that he was “confident and optimistic” during the day Tuesday because he’d “worked extremely hard.” Nevertheless, the realization that he’d won gave him “chill bumps,” he said.

“I’m absolutely honored,” said Girdler. “The position of state senator is more than an honor, more than an office. It’s a charge to keep, and I will give it my all.

“I pledge to be the people’s state senator,” he added. “I look forward to working with everyone to move this region forward.”

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