On April 28, 2020, Marshall County High School shooter, Gabriel Parker, entered a guilty plea to all charges including two murder charges and 14 assault charges. Parker could face a life sentence and would be eligible for parole in 20 years in the January 23, 2018 shooting that took place in the commons area of the high school.
“That’s the first step in resolving this case”, Marshall County Attorney Jason Darnell said in a call to WCBL. “We still have sentencing set for June 12, the date the judge has requested. Honestly, I don’t think anybody really expected us to be here right now doing this. We were probably 75-80 percent ready for trial, then COVID-19 put an abrupt halt to that.”
Darnell said it became clear a couple of weeks ago that the June 1, 2020 trial date was not going to happen which was problematic with a trial such as this, looking at the potential for another six months to a year rescheduling the trial date.
“That was going to be, obviously for reasons I don’t need to go into for the victims and a lot of other participants, was going to be very, very difficult to go another six months to a year”, Darnell said. “This offer was made to us from the defense counsel, we spoke with all those parties involved and felt like it was the right thing to do at this time.”
Darnell said another big benefit to what took place with the guilty plea is that it provides closure and eliminates the chances of appeals saying, “In a case like this, had it gone to trial, appeals would have followed and sometimes those appeals can take five to 10 years.”
“For obvious reasons this is a huge benefit for these victims so those wounds can start to heal”, Darnell said. “I realize they are never going to fully heal and they’ll never be the same, but at the same time, that appeals process would have kept those wounds fresh.”
Darnell thanked the many people who helped with this case, saying it was the largest case ever put together by the Kentucky State Police. He said he can’t thank enough, those involved from the local to state level, all doing exactly what they were supposed to do, along with the teachers and administrators of the high school.
“It was because of them that we had such a strong prosecutorial case”, Darnell said. “So my thanks to all of them.”