Following an October 30, 44-page ruling issued in Livingston County Circuit Court from Judge Jamus Redd, Kevin Wayne Dunlap will once again have his day in court — though it may be brief.
All involved parties will reconvene for a 9 AM January 9, 2024, digital conference — in which an evidentiary hearing should be set for some time next year.
Dunlap was sentenced to death following the 2008 Roaring Springs murders of Kayla Williams, Kortney Frensley and Ethan Frensley — and the attempted murder of mother, Kristy Frensley. However, the Hopkinsville man has spent years under various defense counselors seeking local, regional and Supreme Court injunctions on various perceived issues of his original trial.
This past June in Smithland, defenders Dennis Burke and Margaret O’Donnell brought to the table nine claims against the rendered verdict.
This includes the following violations against the Kentucky and U.S. Constitution:
Claim I: That trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to fully investigate and present mitigation evidence.
Claim II: That trial counsel failed to respond to the prosecution’s improper statements during closing arguments.
Claim III: That Dunlap was denied the right to an unbiased capital sentencing jury and reliable determination.
Claim IV: That trial counsel’s inadequate voir dire of two jurors denied that fair and impartial jury in the first place, and thus violated the right to effective assistance of counsel.
Claim V: That trial counsel failed to full investigate the interplay between Dunlap’s arteriovenous malformation, mental illnesses, suicidal ideations and more — which led to his lack of competence to enter a guilty plea.
Claim VI: That trial counsel failed to fully investigate and advise Dunlap of a viable defense that voluntary intoxication, coupled with his brain defects, negated mens rea necessary for intentional murder.
Claim VII: That trial counsel failed to challenge the grand jury’s original indictment, on the grounds of perjured testimony and overt use of irrelevant, inflammatory religious jargon.
Claim VIII: That each previous claim fully deprived Dunlap of a fair trial and reliable determination of punishment.
And Claim IX: That trial counsel failed to challenge the capital kidnapping charge as unconstitutional.
Redd, however, denied a hearing on all but the first claim — citing a myriad of case law and precedent in similar accordance.
Specifically, Redd wrote that “in order to provide a thorough record for certain appeal, regardless of how the Court rules, the Court believes to make a decision on this claim it must hold an evidentiary hearing to adequately address any facts and/or issues external to the current record.”
This also includes a denial of Dunlap’s request for a vacated conviction and death sentence.
Dunlap’s convictions and sentences were upheld in an 84-page decision by the Kentucky Supreme Court, and his judgment became final October 6, 2014.
The full document is available here: image2023-12-05-131815
Viewer discretion is heavily advised.
