Sterlin Justice (in handcuffs) casually talks with an officer of the Kentucky State Police after being arrested for the murder of his cousin.
Post 1537
Sterlin Justice, Jr., Kentucky inmate 333534, born 2004, incarceration intake March 2024 at age 20, schedule for parole consideration July 2039 with release scheduled for May 2042
Manslaughter, Tampering with Evidence
In February 2024, a Pike County Kentucky man who was indicted for the May 12 2023 shooting death of a Phelps man entered a guilty plea.
Sterlin Justice, 20, of Hurricane Creek, Stopover, Kentucky was indicted by a Pike County grand jury on charges of first-degree murder and tampering with evidence. He appeared before the Circuit Judge at which time he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter and tampering with evidence.
The Judge told Justice that, by entering a guilty plea, he was giving up certain constitutional rights including giving up the right to a trial by jury. Justice told the judge he understood the ramifications and had made his decision voluntarily.
The Judge accepted the plea. The Commonwealth’s Attorney made a recommendation that Justice be sentenced to 19 years in prison for the manslaughter charge and two years for the tampering with evidence charge, which would run concurrently for a total of 19 years.
At a formal sentencing hearing in March 2024, the Judge sentenced Justice to recommended term.
On May 12 2023 Kentucky State Police troopers responded to a shots-fired call, according to court records. Upon arriving, officers found William Working, who is Justice’s first cousin, had been shot three times and he was later pronounced dead at the scene.
Slone said Justice had spent the night at Working’s residence the night before the shooting. According to KSP, Justice was arrested a short time after the incident at a residence approximately 5 miles from the scene of the shooting.
Justice haf been held in the Pike County Detention Center since his arrest.
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