Oak Ridge man takes manslaughter plea deal, gets seven-year prison sentenced

After nearly 18 months, the homicide case involving victim Robert "Bobby" Vanover has concluded, sort of.

Vanover’s former stepson, Keith Edward Mason of Oak Ridge, was scheduled to stand trial Wednesday morning in Whitley Circuit Court, but instead Mason entered a conditional guilty plea to the charge of second-degree manslaughter.

In exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to recommend a seven-year prison sentence for Mason.

Another unusual condition of the plea deal is that prosecutors agreed allow Mason to appeal the case based on a self-defense law passed by the Kentucky General Assembly in 2006.

If the appeals court sides with Mason, then case could be dismissed.

One of Mason’s lawyers, Ronald Bowling, said that his client is not pleased with the resolution of the case.

"The plea is probably the end of the beginning. We are actually taking an issue up to the court of appeals," Bowling said. "There is a statute in Kentucky – relatively new less than 10 years old – that says if you have the right to defend yourself and the court so finds then you are immune from prosecution. It was a big win for the folks, who are proponents of self-defense."

Circuit Judge Paul Winchester denied Mason’s motion to dismiss the charge based on this statute Wednesday.

"We feel very strongly that the law is in our favor and that Keith will get the justice he deserves from the court of appeals and possibly the Supreme Court of Kentucky," Bowling said.

"I think it is in Keith’s best interest to have the court of appeals adjudicate it. There are always 1,000 factors to consider so I don’t like to go out on a branch and jinx myself but I do feel very good about Keith’s odds."

Commonwealth’s Attorney Allen Trimble seemed unconcerned about the provision allowing Mason to appeal the case. He noted that most criminal cases, particularly ones tried by juries, are appealed any way.

"This is really no different than most any criminal case," he said.

Trimble said he was pleased with the outcome of the case.

"Every homicide case is a tragic case. I don’t care what the facts or circumstances would be. Just like other homicide cases this was tragic," Trimble noted. "The resolution was fair under the law. A family, who loses a loved one, can never be satisfied.

"I don’t care what the penalty is because they can never get their loved one back. Under our law, I think this was a fair resolution of the crime."

Winchester agreed during Wednesday’s hearing to allow Mason to remain free on bond pending his formal sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for Aug. 18.

Bowling said that he plans to ask Winchester to allow his client to remain free on bond pending the outcome of the appeal.

"Keith is a very non-violent man. He is a very good man. He is a family man. There would be no just cause keeping him locked up pending appeal, which could take 18 to 24 months," Bowling said.

Trimble said that he will oppose any motion to allow Mason to remain free on bond pending the outcome of his appeal.

"We would do that in any case," he added.

If convicted of second-degree manslaughter at trial, Mason could have been sentenced to a minimum of five years in prison or as much as 10 years in prison.

He will be eligible for parole after he completes 20 percent of his sentence.

Mason has never disputed shooting Vanover, 60, to death on Jan. 20, 2013, on a 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.

The shooting happened about noon on Ayers Road on or near property that was owned by Mason’s mother. Vanover’s son, Kevin Vanover, was staying on his mother’s property and Bobby Vanover was there visiting him.

Mason told Bobby Vanover that he wasn’t supposed to be on the property, and that his mother had EPO’s and other various paperwork against him.

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’t armed with a gun, but police did find his mag flashlight at the crime scene near his body.

The plea agreement notes that the divorce between Vanover and Mason’s mother more than 20 years ago was acrimonious and that the victim hadn’t seen his biological son in nearly 20 years. The agreement also notes that Mason confronted the victim on a public road adjacent to a farm that Mason’s family owned, and that Mason shot and killed Vanover.

After the shooting, Mason spent 43 days in the Whitley County Detention Center being held in lieu of a $1 million cash bond before he was released after the grand jury issued no indictment against him on March 12, 2013.

The case was presented to the grand jury a second time on July 2, 2013, and the grand jury returned a second-degree manslaughter indictment against Mason.

The grand jury heard from three witnesses when the case was presented the second time including Whitley County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy K.Y. Fuson, who investigated the case, and from two of Vanover’s relatives, his mother, Della Vanover Terry, and his aunt, Shirley Ball Hudson.