HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (AP) – An arrest warrant says a man suspected of shooting a police officer in Kentucky last week had escaped from a halfway house nearly two months earlier.
The Kentucky New Era obtained an arrest warrant that says 35-year-old James K. Decoursey had left Louisville’s Dismas Charities-St. Patrick’s without consent in early February upon being informed he would be transferred back to prison.
Kentucky State Police said Decoursey fatally shot Hopkinsville Officer Phillip Meacham on March 29. He was shot and killed in an encounter with law enforcement officials in Tennessee the next day.
According to the warrant, he was serving a 29-year sentence and due to be released in September 2039.
Christian County Sheriff Livy Leavell says his office was never notified of the outstanding warrant for Decoursey’s arrest.
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