Public Defender Jason Hart '08 Files Defense Brief with Kentucky Supreme Court

Kentucky Public Defender Jason Hart '08 was mentioned in The Lexington Herald-Leader for filing a 50-page defense brief with the Kentucky Supreme Court to have his client's murder conviction overturned.

From The Lexington Herald-Leader: "The most substantial document filed in the case — which is now in the hands of the Kentucky Supreme Court — remains the 50-page defense brief, which was filed Oct. 11 by two attorneys representing Southworth.

Public defenders Shannon Dupree and Jason Hart argued that Southworth's conviction should be overturned based on several factors, including incomplete or improper evidence and testimony.

Southworth, 50, is serving a life sentence at Northpoint Training Center in Boyle County. At the end of a two-week trial in January, jurors found him guilty of murder in the death of his wife, Umi Southworth, who was badly beaten and left for dead behind their Meadowthorpe Avenue home in June 2010.

The highly publicized trial was based largely on circumstantial evidence, with little physical evidence — such as fingerprints or DNA — linking Don Southworth to the crime. The defense brief takes issue with much of the evidence and testimony, citing a number of alleged fair-trial violations."

Read more in The Lexington Herald-Leader, "Donald Southworth challenges evidence in appeal of murder conviction"