Local man accepts plea agreement for role in fatal wreck

Janie Slaven, Commonwealth Journal, Somerset, Ky.
·2 min read

Apr. 27—A local man charged with murder in connection to a fatal 2019 wreck has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.

Terry Lynn Hensley, 48, of Nancy, pleaded guilty last Thursday to first-degree Manslaughter after participating in criminal mediation earlier in the week.

The charge stemmed from a fatal car wreck that occurred in the early morning hours of February 4, 2019, at the intersection of Grande Avenue and East Mt. Vernon Street in downtown Somerset.

According to what the Somerset Police Department reported at the time, Hensley was driving a 1996 Honda Civic north on Grande Avenue "at a high rate of speed" when the vehicle crossed East Mt. Vernon and struck a utility pole.

The impact killed Hensley's passenger — 36-year-old Amanda Woodall Goodman of Somerset — and Hensley himself was transported to LCRH before being airlifted to the University of Kentucky Medical Center with "significant life-threatening injuries."

SPD Detective Larry Patterson presented the case to the Pulaski County Grand Jury that August based on a determination that Hensley was under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the accident.

The resulting indictment could not be served until two months later when Hensley was located in Ecorse, Michigan, and ultimately extradited back to Pulaski County on November 11, 2019.

Commonwealth's Attorney David Dalton said Monday that retired Judge Douglas George of Marion County oversaw the mediation process, which included participation from Goodman's mother. All participants agreed to the plea offer, he added.

Dalton is recommending a 14-year sentence for Hensley when he is sentenced in Pulaski Circuit Court on May 27. Because manslaughter is classified as a violent crime, Hensley must serve 85 percent of his sentence before he becomes eligible for parole.

Hensley remains lodged at the Pulaski County Detention Center.

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