Judy Reid

Former Warren County Drug Court case specialist Judy Reid made a tearful apology in Warren Circuit Court on Wednesday afternoon to her estranged husband Dewayne Reid, her family and the court system after she pleaded guilty to trying to poison Dewayne Reid to death last year.

Judy L. Reid, 43, was originally indicted last year on charges of criminal attempt to commit murder, criminal solicitation to commit murder and first-degree official misconduct. Reid admitted Wednesday her guilt in attempting to kill Dewayne Reid and first-degree official misconduct. The criminal solicitation to commit murder charge was amended down to tampering with physical evidence to which she also pleaded guilty Wednesday. Warren County Commonwealth’s Attorney Chris Cohron has recommended a sentence of 15 years with parole eligibility after serving 20 percent.

Reid’s accomplice, Kimberly Ann Vincent, 55, 222 Main Cross St., Brownsville, pleaded guilty in October to criminal attempt to commit murder for her role in helping Judy Reid, her former girlfriend, attempt to poison Dewayne Reid. Vincent was accused of mixing a drug-laced solution into Dewayne Reid’s soup from a local restaurant on Sept. 19, 2014. Reid fell ill from eating the soup, but survived.

In a separate hearing Wednesday, Vincent was sentenced to 10 years with parole eligibility after serving 20 percent.

Reid asked to make a statement after entering her guilty pleas.

“As I stand here today a broken person in a shell of a human being from what I used to be, I would like to say that there are no words that I could begin to use to say (how) truly sorry that I am to my children and to Dewayne. … Our marriage of a blended family was a stressful one. With our family in and out of counseling and Dewayne attempting to seek help for his anger and his rages, the violence continued,” Reid said through tears as she addressed the court, her family seated in the front row behind her and Dewayne Reid seated in the front row behind Cohron.

Reid said that she hid portions of their life from people and she suffered from a depression that she described as spiraling out of control, leaving Dewayne alone sometimes to raise their adopted children. 

“You did a good job by yourself, and I will always love you,” Reid said as she turned to Dewayne who sat emotionless. “From the bottom of my heart, I still love you right now.”

The week of Judy Reid’s arrest, she said she had confided to several people including Dewayne Reid that she had planned to kill herself and that the jail cell she is now in was divine intervention to save her life.

“Judy spent her entire life helping people,” her attorney Alan Simpson said after court. “Judy was suffering from extreme emotional disturbance at the time these incidents occurred. The real Judy Reid was the person in drug court helping people.

“A case like this really demonstrates how a person’s emotional well being and mental health can interfere with their day-to-day lives and decision making,” he said.

Police said Judy Reid asked a drug court participant to assist her in obtaining Opana, a powerful narcotic, to kill her husband and collect his $500,000 life insurance policy, according to one of her arrest citations in Warren Circuit Court Clerk records and prior court testimony. 

The investigation began with a Sept. 24, 2014, traffic stop.

Bowling Green police Officer Erik Woodward stopped a woman on a suspicious incident. During that encounter, there were some prescription medications and maybe other illegal drugs found, Peerce said in court last year. During Woodward’s initial interview with the woman she told Woodward there had been some inappropriate communications between her and her drug court case specialist, Judy Reid, Peerce said in court.

The woman told police that Reid and Vincent had drugged Dewayne Reid ’s soup in an unsuccessful attempt to kill him. She told Woodward that Reid asked her to get Opana. Judy Reid told the woman she knew if she mixed Opana with Xanax it would “stop his heart,” Peerce said in court last year. 

Reid and Vincent were arrested Sept. 25, 2014, and have remained in Warren County Regional Jail since.

Judy Reid had worked for the Administrative Office of the Courts since April 1, 2009. In September 2014, the AOC suspended Reid ’s employment. She resigned shortly after that.

Vincent’s attorney, Eric Clark, anticipates filing a motion soon for probation for his client who has already served more than a year in jail awaiting the final disposition of her case, he said.

Vincent was on disability at the time of the incidents that lead to her arrest in this case. However, she had previously worked as an investigator in the Kentucky Cabinet for Health Family Services Department for Community Based Services. She was assisting her ailing parents and Judy Reid used her as an “easy pawn,” Clark said during court.

Clark asked the court for probation for his client. The request was declined. 

“This has been one of the most disturbing cases I’ve handled from the standpoint that both defendants were professionals that either were or had been part of the criminal justice system,” Cohron said after court. “I think from the judge’s reaction today when Ms. Reid tried to lay unfounded blame on her victim and tried to equivocate her behavior she showed she was truly unremorseful to the end.

“Ms. Vincent was a pawn of Ms. Reid’s that was sadly manipulated into committing a despicable act,” he said.