Tracy Davis

Jefferson County, Kentucky Circuit Judge Tracy Davis rejected a jury's recommended 65-year sentence for a man who abducted, robbed, and repeatedly sexually assaulted a woman at gunpoint, and instead sentenced him to 30 years — explaining that she did not believe he was "beyond being rehabilitated."

The defendant, Christopher Earl Thompson, was convicted in connection with a July 2023 attack. Prosecutors said Thompson, wearing a ski mask, forced his way at gunpoint into a woman's car in south Louisville and drove her to an elementary-school parking lot, where he sexually assaulted her. He then drove her to an ATM, robbed her, and returned to the school lot to assault her a second time. DNA recovered from a water bottle led to his arrest, and a jury convicted him of first-degree robbery, kidnapping, first-degree sodomy, and first-degree sexual abuse.

After the jury recommended a 65-year sentence, Judge Davis reduced it to 30 years. She stated that she did not consider Thompson "beyond being rehabilitated," and defended the decision by saying, "Regardless of what the media thinks, regardless of what anyone thinks, I apply the law."

The reduction drew sharp public criticism. Jefferson County Commonwealth's Attorney Gerina Whethers objected to the rejection of the jury's recommendation and, together with Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman, appealed the sentence to the Kentucky Supreme Court. Separately, members of the Louisville Metro Council moved to publish Davis's sentencing records.