A former Eastern Kentucky University police shift sergeant pleaded guilty Monday morning to evidence tampering and sexual misconduct, but received a probated sentence as part of a plea agreement.
James King will serve 90 days in the Madison County Detention Center as a result of his plea, but his three-year prison sentence for tampering with physical evidence and sexual misconduct will be probated for five years, and if King complies with the terms of the probation for the five years, the conviction will be dismissed from his record.
King was scheduled for a jury trial Monday on the charges, which stem from a Feb. 7, 2008, incident in which King hid a laptop computer which could have been used as evidence against him for an alleged sexual assault.
The laptop computer had been used to send a text message to a woman King met for a sexual encounter during a lunch break in his shift around midnight, he told Senior Judge Julia Adams while entering the guilty plea.
The woman later contacted police to report a sexual assault, at which point King hid the computer in the trunk of a police cruiser belonging to another officer, he said.
King told the court he hid the computer because in addition to the text messages to the woman, it contained messages he had sent to other people that he was concerned his wife would find out about following an investigation.
The day after King hid the computer in the cruiser, he took it back and hid it, he testified. King was suspended by EKU the day after the assault was reported, and was fired by the university on April 14, 2008, for what was termed a “university policy violation” by university officials.
Sexual misconduct is a misdemeanor defined in state law as having sexual intercourse with a person without their consent. King testified that the encounter with the woman was consensual, he believed, but that she later reported a sexual assault.
King had initially been charged with first-degree rape, but a Madison County grand jury chose to indict King on the misconduct charge in September 2008.
After the plea, King’s attorney, Jim Baechtold, said his client was sorry for what had happened.
“Mr. King regrets and is remorseful about anything that happened on Feb. 7, 2008,” Baechtold said. “He’s grateful for the opportunity to participate in the diversion program and hopefully one day he will be able to clear his record.”
King initially will be on supervised probation following an order by Adams, but may be allowed to go on unsupervised probation following an evaluation by state probation and parole officials.
Brian Smith may be reached at bsmith@richmondregister.com or at 624-6694.
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Eligible applicants must have lived in Madison or Clark counties for at least one year, have a stable income, be able to pay a modest monthly mortgage and be able to demonstrate that their current housing is overcrowded, physically substandard, too expensive, unsafe, or they are living in subsidized housing, according to Habitat.
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