A Kentucky attorney and prosecutor was charged with the murder of his wife and tampering with evidence after the murder.
Donald Kyle Deskins, 54, was charged on August 30 with the April 2021 murder of 46-year-old Judith Dawn Deskins.
Dawn died at home from blunt force trauma – reportedly due to domestic violence – for which no one was charged at the time.
Deskins, who formerly served as an assistant attorney for Pike County and is currently a city attorney for Elkhorn City, was charged with murdering his wife “with intent to cause her death or under circumstances demonstrating extreme indifference to human life and willfully engaged in conduct that carries a high risk of death.’
In the month after his wife’s death, Deskins allegedly tampered with evidence that would eventually lead investigators to him.
Deskins is charged with tampering with evidence on April 24, 2021 – the day Dawn died – and on July 28, 2021, when he allegedly tampered with the laptop he gave to police.
The indictment alleges that he “destroyed, mutilated, concealed, removed or altered physical evidence, namely his laptop, when he presented it as evidence in the death investigation of (Dawn Deskins).”
Donald Deskins, 54, was indicted by a grand jury on August 30 and charged with murder and tampering with evidence
Judith ‘Dawn’ Deskins, 46, died on April 24, 2021 in the home she shared with her husband. Court documents claim that her death from blunt trauma was a result of domestic violence
The chief prosecutor in the case suggested that local outlets be arranged News-Express that the reason it took so long to arrest Deskins is because it took the police a long time to find someone with the skills to interpret the physical evidence of the crime.
Finding that person, Floyd “Tony” Skean, said it took “an eternity.”
“I got involved at the end of 2021 and it took me almost all of 2022 to find someone who could watch it,” he said.
That person ended up being Dr. Bill Smock, the director and “police surgeon” of the Louisville Metro Police Department’s Clinical Forensic Medical Program.
His unique title and qualifications have led him to be involved in several high-profile cases in recent years, including serving as an expert witness in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd, and the investigation surrounding the murder of Breonna Taylor .
On August 30, an approximately four-hour presentation was given to a jury, resulting in the indictment.
The July date was also a day after Deskins noticeably updated his relationship status on Facebook to indicate he was in a relationship with another woman.
His feed was soon filled with friends and family congratulating him and saying how happy they were that the father and newly widowed man had found someone new just three months after his wife’s sudden death.
He is currently listed as single on Facebook.
Deskins was formerly a district attorney in the Pike County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office and prior to his arrest served as the Attorney of Elkhorn City.
He had also previously been penalized in his role as a lawyer for omitting information in his representation of a woman seeking divorce
Prior to his current legal situation, Deskins has a history of professional discipline due to several errors and omissions in his portrayal of a woman divorcing her husband.
Consequently, in 2014, Deskins was suspended from practicing law in Kentucky for a period of 30 days and sentenced to one year of probation.
In the verdict, a judge wrote that Deskins had specifically tried to mitigate the seriousness of his wrongdoing by citing mental health problems and ongoing “family problems.”
In his Motion for Suspension, Deskins admits his wrongdoing, stating that he suffered from “anxiety and depression-related illnesses related to certain personal and family problems during the events that gave rise to this case.”
Although Deskins was charged in Pike County, located in eastern Kentucky in the heart of Appalachia, he will not be prosecuted by the county attorney’s office. Because he was once an assistant prosecutor at that office, there is a clear conflict of interest.
Instead, Skeans, the Attorney for the Commonwealth of Johnson County, has been appointed special prosecutor.
Deskins remains behind bars without bail after being booked on the afternoon of August 31. He was listed as six feet tall and 330 pounds.