Serving justice, victims' families

Charles Romans, The Daily Independent, Ashland, Ky.
·4 min read

Aug. 2—ASHLAND — It is the established intent of the Justice System to uphold the laws of the country, and thereby ensure the safety of society.

When laws are broken, especially in the case of violent crime, the members of society depend upon that Justice System to prosecute those who commit these crimes in a timely and ethical manner for the good of all society's members — beyond that, for the families of those impacted by violent crime, the ultimate ruling of the Justice System might constitute their only closure for the loss of a loved one. Subverting this ruling constitutes an assault on the dignity of society as a whole.

On July 8, 1994, Thomas Toney was kidnapped at gunpoint in Ashland. Toney was forced to drive to an abandoned industrial park and was ultimately murdered in cold blood by his kidnapper. It would be 33 days until Toney's body was recovered. Toney's killer had reluctantly aided law enforcement in exchange for not facing the death penalty for his crime, and a chance for parole in the future. That parole hearing was held on Nov. 9, 2020, and Toney's family presented a petition against the killer being paroled. When the Parole Board declared that Toney's killer was denied parole, and was ordered to serve out his total sentence, Toney's son David Toney said the family breathed a collective sigh of relief.

That relief, however, was short-lived. David Toney said he learned some five months after that parole hearing that Parole Board Chair Leila VanHoose signed a directive prohibiting inmates serving life sentences from receiving such "serve outs" the first time they appear before the Board.

"And the directive was retroactive, meaning dozens of Kentucky's most notorious killers — including my dad's killer — would receive new parole hearings. It was horrific, revolting news," David Toney said.

"When I found out that the Chair of the Parole Board signed that directive, I began to put a petition together," David Toney said. A chance meeting with a friend led to the idea to put the petition against the directive online, and Toney said that he received help from Melissa Lambert, an Administrative Assistant with the Office of the Commonwealth Attorney in Boyd County. Lambert had also been attached to the office during the trial leading to the conviction of Thomas Toney's killer. But Lambert credits David Toney for doing most of the legwork involved.

Toney said he would explain what he was doing to everyone he spoke with, and then point them to the online petition.

"Then I started calling every Commonwealth. Attorney that had a case affected by this directive," he said.

"We followed up in the same way, working with petitions," Lambert said. "And we contacted other family members we thought could be affected. And we were as stunned as anyone by the directive. My boss, Rhonda Copley, and I were on a conference call with the Toneys, the Parole Board, and with Dean Akers, who was one of the original police officers involved, and everyone got to speak when we got the first 'serve out,'" she said. "And we never dreamed that they would issue this directive.

"When you get the 'serve out,' that's when you have that breath of relief," Lambert said. After that point, there is closure for the family and they feel like they can sleep easier, she said. "But then you have a directive like this that comes out of the blue and blows all of that sky high."

David Toney said he received a lot of help along the way from victims' advocacy groups and Commonwealth Attorneys Offices.

"They all did a great job," he said. When speaking to the victim's advocate in Fayette County, he said he was given a number for the state director of Marsy's Law. With their help, the help of State Representative Scott Sharp, and involvement from State Attorney General Daniel Cameron's Office, as well as numerous television interviews, the strenuous opposition to the directive was put into the public eye. The end result of all the concerted efforts of numerous people and organizations was the directive being rescinded.

David Toney, numerous members of his family, and representatives of the organizations who work so hard to counter the directive, met in Ashland for a victory dinner on Saturday at House of Grace. Now the Toney family and other families of the victims of violent crime can hopefully rest easier, Toney said. "It gives you closure of a sort," Toney said. "And hopefully everyone will be able to heal in time."

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