During the annual Kentucky Prosecutors Conference Thursday, Attorney General Andy Beshear presented awards to the state’s top prosecutors and hosted a panel addressing the heroin epidemic.
Beshear
The three-day conference, hosted by the Office of the Attorney General’s Prosecutors Advisory Council (PAC), serves as an annual opportunity for county and commonwealth’s attorneys and prosecutors in the AG’s office to receive training and recognition for their public service.
This year more than 15 national speakers addressed a variety of topics such as prosecuting human trafficking, overcoming obstacles to achieve juvenile justice and impaired driving.
Attorney General Beshear addressed attendees by hosting a panel that focused on prosecuting heroin dealers and addressing barriers to treatment. Following the panel, Beshear presented the 2017 Outstanding Prosecutors Awards and the Ian Sonego Award of Excellence.
Beshear recognized the following four prosecutors for their contributions to the Unified Prosecutorial System.
Hon. Darrell Herald, commonwealth’s attorney, representing the 39th Judicial Circuit, which consists of Breathitt, Wolfe and Powell counties. Hon. Allen Trimble, commonwealth’s attorney, representing the 34th Judicial Circuit, which consists of McCreary and Whitley counties. Hon. Mike O’Connell, county attorney, serving Jefferson County. Hon. Bobbi Jo Lewis, county attorney, serving Anderson County.
The Ian Sonego Award of Excellence, which was established by PAC in 2016 to honor the contributions of Ian Sonego, a former prosecutor, criminal appellate attorney and true champion for Kentucky prosecutors. The attributes honored by this award, include perseverance in the pursuit of fairness and integrity in the criminal justice process and knowledge and respect for the law.
Attorney General Andy Beshear presents the Ian Sonego Award of Excellence to Perry Ryan, assistant attorney general for the Commonwealth of Kentucky (provided photo).
The recipient of the award was Perry Ryan, assistant attorney general for the Commonwealth of Kentucky.
“Our prosecutors play a critical role in protecting their local communities,” said Beshear. “I applaud those recognized today for their outstanding dedication to upholding the law and serving the people of Kentucky.”
In his effort to continue to tackle the state’s substance abuse epidemic, Beshear also announced $2.5 million to the Prosecutors Advisory Council to implement, expand and enhance Rocket Docket programs in Kentucky for fiscal year 2018.
Rocket Docket is a program that permits a local commonwealth’s attorney or county attorney to expedite cases through the judicial system. It also allows select defendants rapid access to substance abuse treatment, generating significant cost savings to local county jails.
The Attorney General’s Office of the Prosecutors Advisory Council oversees the distribution of funding, which will be used to support seven new Rocket Dockets, in addition to the 30 programs funded last year in Kentucky.
Beshear said Rocket Docket programs provided more than $16 million in savings last year to the Commonwealth, local counties and prosecutors.
Office of the Attorney General
