A late-night fire last Friday, February 17 at a mobile home near the Knifley Community claimed the life of a 23-year-old Adair County man.

The victim, Richard Marrapodi, of Columbia, was discovered in the mobile home located at 8601 Knifley Road after firefighters from the Knifley Area Volunteer Fire Department and Adair County Fire Department were able to extinguish the blaze.

Knifley Area Volunteer Fire Department Chief Brett said their department was paged out by the Adair County 911 Center at 11:11 p.m. Friday night. When they arrived on the scene, smoke was pouring from the mobile home and fire could been seen in the interior of the residence.

With the assistance of the Adair County Fire Department, the firefighters were able to bring the fire under control quickly enough to prevent the exterior of the mobile home from burning.

After the body of the victim was found inside the residence, Kentucky State Police Post 15 in Columbia was notified and officers were dispatched to the scene.

Marrapodi was pronounced deceased by Adair County Deputy Coroner David Taylor at 12:15 a.m. Saturday, February 18. An autopsy was performed that day at the State Medical Examiner’s Office in Louisville.

According to Deputy Coroner Taylor, preliminary results from the autopsy indicate that the cause of death was smoke inhalation. Carbon monoxide testing and toxicology results are pending.

The cause of the fire is being investigated by KSP Det. Jamie Richard and Arson Investigator Alex Wesley. However, no foul play is suspected at this time.

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A 23-year-old former Adair County resident was killed Monday afternoon, February 20, when the motorcycle he was operating collided with two vehicles in Campbellsville.

Christopher Johnson of Glasgow was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident by the Taylor County Coroner’s Office.

According to a news release from the Campbellsville Police Department, the accident occurred at approximately 3:27 p.m. EST on West Main Street near Taylor County Rural Electric.

Johnson, operating a 2002 Suzuki motorcycle, was traveling west on Main Street when he lost control, crossed over the center line and sideswiped a 1996 Chevy pickup being operated by Todd Corbin 43, of Campbellsville, which was traveling east. The motorcycle then continued on and struck a second vehicle, a 2005 Dodge pickup being operated by William Corbin, of Campbellsville, which was also traveling east on Main Street.

Neither of the drivers of the pickups were injured in the accident, which was investigated by Officer Jason Simpson of the Campbellsville Police Department. The CPD was assisted at the scene by the Campbellsville Fire/Rescue Department and Campbellsville/Taylor County EMS.

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It’s been over 11 years since the brutally beaten body of Sherry Bland was found inside her home on Pine Tree Street in Columbia, and roughly nine and one-half years since Phillip Brown was arrested and charged with murder, robbery and burglary in connection with her death.

Since that time, Brown has been found guilty of Bland’s murder in two separate trials, but what will be his ultimate final sentence for his crimes is still tied up in the court system.

In the first trial, held in Adair County in 2003, Brown was convicted of murder, first degree burglary and first degree robbery, and the jury recommended a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years on the murder charges, 15 years for first degree burglary and 10 years for first degree robbery. The burglary and robbery sentences were to be served consecutively for a total of 25 years and were to run concurrently with his life sentence.

However, Brown’s court appointed attorneys appealed, and a new trial was ordered, with the venue being changed from Adair Circuit Court to Warren Circuit Court. In the second trial, held in May, 2006, Brown was again found guilty of murder, burglary and robbery, and the Warren County jury recommended the death penalty on the murder charge and 20 years each on the burglary and robbery charges. On August 19, 2006, Circuit Judge James Weddle sentenced Brown to death.

The verdict was appealed again, and in June 2010, the Kentucky Supreme Court reviewed the case and upheld Brown’s guilty verdict. However, the Justices overturned Brown’s death penalty sentence, ruling that since he had not been sentenced to death in his trial, he was not eligible to receive the death penalty in the second trial.

The Kentucky Attorney General’s Office disagreed with the court’s ruling, and filed a request with the U.S. Supreme Court, asking them to look at it, but the request was turned down. The case was then sent back to Warren Circuit Court for a new re-sentencing phase of the trial.

After languishing in the over-crowded court system for a good while, a hearing was set for February 13 in Warren Circuit Court, and Commonwealth Attorney Brian Wright said he thought they may be near to finally concluding the case. However, that didn’t prove to be the case, as another development has arisen.

“We (Wright and Brown’s attorneys, trial attorney Teresa Whitaker and appeals attorney Jim Cox, both from the Department of Public Advocacy) were to meet with Circuit Judge Steve Wilson to see if we could reach an agreement on a new sentence or if we would have to seat a new jury to deal with the sentencing,” Wright said.

“However, we found out that Phillip Brown, acting on his own, has filed an ineffective counsel appeal against both his trial and appeal attorneys, saying that they did not attempt to cap the sentences on his burglary and robbery convictions,” he continued. The sentences for burglary and robbery in the first trial totaled 25 years, while in the second trial the sentences totaled 40 years.

“The first step now will be for the court to determine if they were ineffective in not trying to cap the sentences for burglary and robbery,” Wright said. “If it is ruled they cannot continue, new counsel will have to be appointed before we’re ready to look at how to proceed in a new sentence.”

Wright said that Judge Wilson set another date for April 30, and instructed the Department of Public Advocacy to have someone at the meeting that would be able to represent Brown.

Sherry Bland’s body was found in her Pine Street home on January 12, 2001. She had not been seen or heard from for a couple of days, and after she missed an appointment, a friend went to check on her and discovered her body. She had been stabbed and then hit numerous times with what was proved to be a tire iron.

While Phillip Brown was an early suspect in the case, it took almost 19 months before law enforcement was able to gather enough evidence to seek an indictment against him.