Kentucky Casework,
Excessive Force in Both Courts

Few as they are, the practice's Kentucky matters all carry a use of force question. A failure to render aid question and a wrongful death claim sit inside that force work, with a false arrest claim alongside. The aid question is what carries the record past the moment force was used, and the analysis follows it there.

For the force itself, the sources are any body-worn, dash or surveillance video, the officers' reports and statements, the civilian witness statements and the deposition transcripts, each checked against the others for sequence and consistency. The measure is the agency's own policy, the training the officers received, and national standards and model policies, applied to what the officers knew and perceived when they used force and never to what was learned afterward.

For the interval after the force, the same sources are read with any dispatch records: what the officers did next, whether and when aid was rendered or summoned, and how the written accounts describe that stretch of time. What generally accepted practice requires in that interval is set out under failure to intervene and render aid, and the analysis keeps that interval on the same timeline as the force. In a wrongful death claim, cause of death stays with qualified medical experts, and the analysis defers to them on the record.

When a Kentucky force claim is pleaded under Section 1983, in federal or state court, the practices question runs to each decision on the timeline, the aid included where it is in issue: whether the conduct was consistent with agency policy, training and generally accepted police practice. The opinion addresses police practices and goes no further, because legal conclusions remain counsel's. The defense in a Kentucky criminal case would retain the analysis for another purpose: to test the officers' reports and procedure against any video and against policy, on points that can bear on suppression or on the account the charge rests on.

Professor Gilbertson's testimony has not been excluded at trial in any state or federal court. Admissibility in any particular matter remains retaining counsel's responsibility. The courts where testimony has been admitted are listed on the Library page on how many matters and where.

Retaining from Kentucky runs on the same terms as every engagement. It opens with a conflict check, and counsel hears about a conflict immediately. A first inquiry holds the case type and posture, the jurisdiction and case number, the governing deadlines, what the record contains so far, and the parties for the conflict check. Nothing privileged travels with a first inquiry, and privileged material is never exchanged by email.

After retention the record travels on physical media, a computer flash drive or an external hard drive by mail or courier; online sharing services are not used. Depositions are taken by Zoom or a similar platform, so a Kentucky deposition does not wait on a travel calendar. Expert reports require sixty days of advance notice, and a bullet-point outline of the report is approved with retaining counsel before writing begins.

The practice is based in Naples, Florida, and trial testimony is offered in Kentucky on the published travel terms. The fee schedule and the travel terms are set out in full on the For Counsel page, and the Library note on what to send with a first inquiry covers the first step item by item.