MOUNT STERLING, Ky.
--
Minutes after a jury announced its guilty verdict in the killing of a folksy, small-town police chief, family members of convicted murderer James Barnett formed a prayer circle at the bottom of the courthouse stairwell.
They whispered and two words were audible in their prayers: "Randy Lacy," reflecting Clay City's close-knit ties, even between lawman and lawbreaker.
Lacy was not only the law in the small town about 40 miles east of Lexington but also sometimes the entertainment. The police chief once even played Santa Claus for the children of Barnett, who was convicted Wednesday of wanton murder in his death.
The verdict, reached after nearly 15 hours of deliberations over two days, spared Barnett from the death penalty and was consistent with the defense's position that he didn't mean to kill.
Prosecutors were pushing for the more serious charge of intentional murder, which could have carried life without parole or death.
Jurors were expected to return Thursday for the trial's penalty phase. Barnett, 38, could spend the rest of his life in prison but may have the chance for parole in 20 years.
Two jurors wept as the verdict was read, and several of Lacy's family members teared up as well. One of Barnett's sisters whispered, "Thank God," when the jury opted for the lower murder charge. Barnett's family members declined to comment afterward.
Prosecutors said Lacy was shot point-blank in the back of his head with a single bullet fired from his own gun after arresting Barnett during a traffic stop in June 2007. Lacy's car hit a stop sign and rolled into a ditch, allowing Barnett to try to escape through a window, prosecutors said.
Lacy's reputation for being kind even to the criminals he was carting off to jail may have contributed to his death. He cuffed Barnett and other familiar suspects in front rather than behind their backs, and he left the divider screen in his squad car open to let the air conditioning reach the back seat.
Barnett found Lacy's spare gun on the front seat and took it when Lacy was out of the car collecting evidence, prosecutors said.
Defense attorneys said their client was a junkie high on a mind-altering cocktail of alcohol, cocaine and the anti-anxiety medication Xanax.
Barnett also was convicted of theft by unlawful taking for grabbing and hiding Lacy's handgun, which was the murder weapon. He was acquitted of an escape charge.
When asked after the verdict whether he could ever forgive Barnett for the crime, Lacy's eldest brother, Chester, a deputy jailer, said he was long past that.
"I forgave him the day it happened," Chester Lacy said. "I'm looking to the Bible."
Chester Lacy said he was relieved that the jury spared Barnett's life. He acknowledged many of his family members wanted to see Barnett executed, although they realized the death penalty likely wouldn't be an option given the jury's long deliberation.
He said he remains friends with several of Barnett's relatives.
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