This story first appeared in the Kentucky Lantern, an outlet of States Newsroom. It's republished here as part of the Appalachian News Exchange reporting partnership to strength Kentucky journalism.
While the Kentucky Supreme Court isn’t reconsidering its decision in last spring’s impeachment of Fayette County Judge Julie Goodman, it does plan to weigh in on her decisions in a controversial hit-and-run case at the center of the legislative proceedings.
Two legal experts who spoke to the Kentucky Lantern said while those cases are separate, the high court’s decision may further future political action against Goodman.
Last month, the Kentucky Supreme Court declined to review its decision at the behest of Republican lawmakers in the impeachment case, saying the matter “encroaches upon the inherent powers of the Judicial Branch” and violates the separation of powers among branches of government.
After the House forwarded articles of impeachment against Goodman during the legislative session this year, the Senate paused its proceedings and allowed the Judicial Conduct Commission to review the matter. The legislature’s process frequently prompted questions about the power it has over impeachments versus the commission’s authority under the Judicial Article adopted in the 1970s.
Laura Hendrix, the executive secretary of the commission, told the Kentucky Lantern earler this month she could not confirm or deny the existence of investigations as they are confidential until 15 days after a notice of formal proceedings or an answer is filed in response under Kentucky Supreme Court rules.
An attorney who represented Goodman in the impeachment matter declined to comment for this story.
Separate cases
Sheryl Synder, a state constitutional lawyer, said the 2020 hit-and-run case is “totally separate” from the impeachment “but politically, they’re related.”
“Theoretically, if the Supreme Court criticized the judge in the opinion, that could add political fuel to the fire, so to speak,” he said.
The Kentucky Supreme Court granted discretionary review Sept. 16 in a criminal case against Cornell Denmark Thomas II, who was charged with wanton murder for a June 2020 car crash in Lexington that killed Tammy Botkin. Media reports said Thomas had allegedly been driving nearly 100 miles per hour and fled the scene on foot.
In 2023, Goodman dismissed the case against Thomas, saying he had been overcharged because of his race as he is a Black man. The county prosecutor’s office is led by a Black woman, Fayette Commonwealth’s Attorney Kimberly Baird.
The case is the first listed of the six cited by former state Rep. Killian Timoney’s impeachment petition against Goodman. Timoney later said on social media he filed the petition on behalf of Botkin’s family. Her widower, Doug Botkin, also briefly testified before the House Impeachment Committee and said he and other family members were shocked when Goodman dismissed charges in the case.
Timoney, a Republican, is currently seeking reelection to the House. The incumbent, Democratic Rep. Adam Moore, was the only Democrat to vote in favor of the articles of impeachment.
The Kentucky Court of Appeals said Goodman’s order in the Thomas case was “fraught with legal errors and abuses of both its discretion and its authority” in a December 2025 108-page ruling written by Appeals Judge Glenn Acree.
Joe Dunman, a law professor at the University of Louisville, said Acree often “doesn’t pull punches when he thinks somebody in the court below, either an attorney or the judge, has messed something up.” If Judge Acree’s interpretation is correct, Dunman continued, “she essentially ran a bench trial and said that this guy can’t be guilty at the very beginning of the case, which is just not done in criminal court.”
Dunman said he would not expect the Supreme Court to reverse the appellate court ruling in the case, but justices may provide clarity on Kentucky law regarding motions in criminal proceedings.
“A big chunk of (Acree’s) opinion is about what kind of motions can be made in a criminal court at that point, and he mentions that there’s no Kentucky case law on that topic, and that’s why Judge Goodman relied on federal law,” Dunman said. “She looked to federal law to help guide what Kentucky courts can do. And Acree says, ‘Well, you just misinterpreted that federal law, but what would be really handy to have is some Kentucky law on that topic.’”
If the high court sides with the appeals court, then the matter goes back to Goodman to restart the criminal case, Dunman said. However, the Supreme Court does have the power to discipline judges and recuse or reassign them.
“Judge Goodman being wrong on the law and getting reversed is not all that big of a deal on its face,” Dunman said. “But if the Supreme Court upholds the Court of Appeals opinion here, then it’s one more maybe one more political reason to be mad at her if the legislature just wants to point at her and say, ‘See, we told you she was bad.’”
Impeachments are rare
The Kentucky General Assembly returns to Frankfort in January. A Republican member of the House wasn’t available for comment on this story. A Senate Republican spokesperson provided a statement saying the Senate “will refrain from public comment on the merits of a case, or potential case, in order to preserve the integrity and impartiality of a trial” as the Senate has the power to try impeachments, similarly to a jury hearing a lawsuit.
Snyder said a new citizen petition would not be needed for the House to enact new articles of impeachment against Goodman, “but in my view, the House would need to pass new articles of impeachment because once they adjourned, that House legally ceased to exist.”
In modern history, the House of Representatives has never questioned a judge’s decision as a reason for impeachment to Snyder’s knowledge. He pointed out that one reason for creating the Judicial Conduct Commission was to “add a constitutional procedure for dealing with misconduct by judges that doesn’t rise to the level of an impeachable offense.”
“Impeachments have been exceedingly rare in Kentucky history,” Snyder said. “There’s certainly not many, if any, prior impeachments of judges.”
Goodman was last elected to the Fayette County Circuit Court in 2022. Her current term ends in 2031.
