Andrew Wolfson

The Courier-Journal;

Louisville Metro Government has agreed to pay $450,000 to a former police detective who says he was demoted to patrol officer on the graveyard shift for trying to help an imprisoned woman prove her innocence on a homicide charge.

The settlement was struck Tuesday with Barron Morgan, who sued the city in 2012, claiming he was punished in violation of the state whistleblower protection act.

“I know I did the right thing — and I think settlement reflects I did the right thing,” said Morgan, who now works the day shift as a uniformed officer.

He said in his suit that he had his supervisor's permission when he notified the Kentucky Innocence Project that Richard Jarrell Jr. had confessed to a murder for which Susan Jean King was serving 10 years in prison. The suit also said he got approval to pass on a copy of Jarrrell's confession.

But Morgan alleged that after Kentucky State Police, who had investigated the 1998 murder, complained that Morgan was assisting the Innocence Project, a Louisville police commander “cursed” him and he was ordered to stop cooperating.

The Courier-Journal reported in 2012 that KSP had complained to Louisville Chief Steve Conrad that Morgan was trying to undermine their case and that another commander later called state police and “apologized on behalf of LMPD for Morgan sticking his nose in this.”

Morgan’s lawyer, Thomas Clay, who released a copy of the settlement agreement Wednesday, said the settlement amount is a “pretty clear indication” that Morgan “did the right thing in disclosing the confession” and that he was “treated abominably” by the department.

Jessie Halladay, a spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Attorney’s office, confirmed the settlement amount. As in most settlements, the city denied wrongdoing.

Louisville police spokesman Sgt. Phil Russell said the department couldn’t comment on the settlement or what policy changes it may have taken to avoid a recurrence because a portion of the suit is still pending. In that matter, Morgan’s former supervisor, Lt. Richard Pearson, alleges he also was retaliated against for approving Morgan’s actions and questioning the conduct of a KSP detective in the case.

Pearson’s complaint is set for trial Monday in Jefferson Circuit Court.

Conrad has denied that the transfers for Morgan and Pearson were retaliatory, saying both were given new jobs as part of a massive reorganization to fight violent crime.

In the suit, however, Morgan claimed that he applied for detective positions in the major case unit and other units and was passed over despite his “impressive resume,” which includes “bringing in the majority of narcotics seized by his unit in 2011-12, and receiving numerous accommodations and awards.”

Conrad initially tried to fire Pearson for alleged misconduct during an unrelated drug bust, for allowing a television news photographer to enter the private property being searched and for allegedly later lying about it.

But Pearson was instead suspended for five days after an investigation failed to sustain the allegation that he was untruthful. That sanction is on appeal before the police merit board, Clay said.

In October 2012, in a ruling based on technical grounds, Spencer Circuit Judge Charles Hickman overruled King’s motion for a new trial in the shooting death of Kyle “Deanie“ Breeden.

In his ruling, Hickman commended Morgan, noting that he shared information only after consulting his supervisor and the commonwealth’s attorney’s office in Jefferson County.

Jarrell ultimately recanted his confession and Hickman said in his ruling that he couldn't determine if Jarrell was telling the truth when he admitted to the murder — or when he denied it.

The judge said Jarrell was able to provide a “startling level of details”" about the crime, but there also were inconsistencies in his story.

Hickman said he couldn’t grant King a new trial because she had pleaded guilty in 2008 while maintaining her innocence.

Breeden’s 1998 death went unsolved for eight years, until then-KSP Detective Todd Harwood was assigned to investigate the cold case and 18 days later concluded King was the perpetrator, according to court records.

Facing life in prison if convicted of murder, King in 2008 entered an Alford plea to manslaughter and accepted a 10-year sentence that left her eligible for parole in only two years.

The Innocence Project began investigating her case after concluding it would have been physically impossible for her to have thrown Breeden's body off a bridge into the Kentucky River, where his body was found. King had only one leg and weighed 97 pounds at the time of the offense.

Then in May 2012, Jarrell, after being arrested in Louisville for allegedly firing a shotgun into a home, told detectives he had killed Breeden.

King was released on parole but appealed Hickman’s ruling in an effort to clear her name. A decision is pending at the Kentucky Court of Appeals.

Morgan said in an interview that the main focus should be on “Susan King and the horror she had to endure for years and how the criminal justice system failed her.

“I pray that everything works out for her,” he said. “I believe the evidence reflects she is innocent of the charges.”

Linda Smith, director of the Kentucky Innocence Project, which is part of the state Department of Public Advocacy, said in a statement that King’s “innocence would never have come to light without detective Morgan’s and Lt. Pearson’s courage.

“Both officers behaved more than honorably, recognizing that the first duty of law enforcement is not to win cases, it is to seek the truth,” she said.

Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at (502) 582-7189