{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"The News Journal","provider_url":"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net","title":"Mason homicide case officially dismissed once and for all &ndash; The News Journal","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"7I2hjgXzuG\"><a href=\"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net\/mason-homicide-case-officially-dismissed\/\">Mason homicide case officially dismissed once and for all<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net\/mason-homicide-case-officially-dismissed\/embed\/#?secret=7I2hjgXzuG\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Mason homicide case officially dismissed once and for all&#8221; &#8212; The News Journal\" data-secret=\"7I2hjgXzuG\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n\/* <![CDATA[ *\/\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/* ]]> *\/\n<\/script>\n","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/qa.thenewsjournal.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/court-teaser.jpg","thumbnail_width":480,"thumbnail_height":258,"description":"A homicide case against an Oak Ridge man that was thrown out by the Kentucky Court of Appeals late last month is officially over. Monday afternoon, Whitley Circuit Judge Paul Winchester agreed to grant a defense request to dismiss the case against Keith Mason with prejudice meaning that it can\u2019t be brought again. \u201cGiven the faces of this case, it has been presented twice (to the grand jury) \u2026 I think there needs to be a final resolution,\u201d Winchester said in making his ruling. Assistant Commonwealth\u2019s Attorney Robert Stephens had asked for the case to be dismissed without prejudice meaning that it could be potentially filed again. Mason was not in court for Monday\u2019s hearing. His attorney, Ronald Bowling, waived his presence for Monday\u2019s hearing. On Jan. 27, the Kentucky Court of Appeals threw out Mason\u2019s homicide case finding that Commonwealth\u2019s Attorney Allen Trimble had committed \u201cprosecutorial misconduct\u201d in the case. The main issue in the appeal was legal advice that Trimble gave to the grand jury during the investigating detective\u2019s testimony in the case of Mason, who shot and killed his former stepfather, Robert \u201cBobby\u201d Vanover, in 2012. \u201cIt appears the trial prosecutor knowingly and intentionally interjected this erroneous legal advice in the middle of the detective\u2019s testimony solely because the detective\u2019s testimony had just informed the jury that they would have to decide if the killing was justified,\u201d judges wrote in the opinion. \u201cIt is noteworthy that the jury did not initially ask the Commonwealth for legal advice on self-protection. Additionally, the one follow-up question the jurors had to the Commonwealth\u2019s erroneous legal advice resulted in the Commonwealth dispensing additional, erroneous advice. Thus, it appears the misadvice was knowingly and intentionally done.\u201d Justices wrote that even if they were to assume the prosecutor believed the legal advice was correct and was not knowingly and intentionally misleading the grand jury, the error would still arise to a flagrant abuse. Trimble took full responsibility for the error. \u201cI made a mistake in quoting the law. They have changed the law since I have been commonwealth attorney and I made a mistake. I own it. I admit that I made a mistake. It was unintentional. It is just the way it is,\u201d Trimble said. \u201cOne of the biggest mistakes that a lawyer makes is to start quoting the law when he doesn\u2019t have it in front of him. A lot of times a grand jury will ask you a question that it would take 10 pages of legal literacy to explain to them.\u201d Original case The case involves Mason, who shot and killed Vanover, 60, his former stepfather, on Jan. 20, 2012, in a public roadway adjacent to property that Mason\u2019s family owned. Mason\u2019s mother and Vanover divorced more than 20 years prior to the shooting. Mason has never disputed shooting Vanover to death on the remote roadway in far western Whitley County only about 300 yards from the Tennessee state line, and has always claimed that he shot Vanover in self-defense. Vanover&#8217;s son, Kevin Vanover, was staying on his mother&#8217;s property and Bobby Vanover was there visiting him. Mason told Bobby Vanover that he wasn&#8217;t supposed to be on the property. When the confrontation started Bobby Vanover reportedly told Keith Mason that even though Mason was half his age, he would whip him all over the road and then he struck Mason with a gazing blow to his lip, police testified. After being struck, Keith Mason fired multiple shots striking Vanover in the chin, the upper chest area near the neck and in the side. Vanover wasn&#8217;t armed with a gun, but police did find his mag flashlight at the crime scene near his body. After the shooting, Mason was charged with murder in Vanover\u2019s death and spent 43 days in the Whitley County Detention Center before a grand jury issued \u201cno true bill\u201d or no indictment against him. After the case was presented to a grand jury a second time in July 2012, the grand jury returned a second-degree manslaughter indictment against Mason. During subsequent legal proceedings in circuit court, Mason unsuccessfully tried to get the indictment dismissed arguing that prosecutorial misconduct had occurred in the grand jury, and he also unsuccessfully tried to get it dismissed claiming he had a self-protection claim. Winchester denied those motions noting there was \u201cprobably a legitimate, very legitimate issue of self-defense, but I think that\u2019s facts for a jury to hear.\u201d After those motions were denied, Vanover entered a guilty plea to second-degree manslaughter in July 2014, but the plea allowed him to appeal the case based in part of the self-defense law passed by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2006."}