A former prosecutor accused of beating his wife to death to start a romance with another woman is facing murder charges in Kentucky.
Suspect Donald Kyle Deskins, 54, is said to have used his in-depth knowledge of criminal procedure to conceal and tamper with evidence of the killing.
Justice officials say his altering of the evidence was so devious they had to hire a specialist in forensic tampering to unravel his deception.
Now – nearly two and a half years after her death – Deskins is to face justice and has been charged with victim Judith Dawn Deskins’ murder.
Deskins – now an attorney in Elkhorn – is said to have beaten his wife to death during a brutal row at the family home on 24th April 2021.
He had always claimed she had simply died suddenly.
The charge sheet – dated 30th August this year – says he carried out the killing “under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life”.
Prosecutors accuse him of tampering with the crime scene and destroying evidence on his laptop, both on the day of the killing and three months later.
At the time, Deskins also updated his Facebook status saying he was in a relationship with another woman.
Many of his friends congratulated him and expressed their joy that he had found happiness following the tragedy three months earlier.
Six months after her death, he shared a post about depression and anxiety, which he captioned: “If you know…you know. If you don’t…be thankful.”
Johnson County Commonwealth Attorney Floyd Skeans told local media: “Finding the person with the skills and expertise to be able to interpret the physical evidence took forever.
“I got involved in late 2021 and it took me nearly all of 2022 to find somebody that could look at it.”
Deskins was taken into custody on 31st August.
He faces 20 years to life for the murder charge and one to five years for each of the two tampering charges if convicted.
Judith was described in her obituary as a “counselor for Westcare and a member of the First Christian Church of Pikeville”, her birthplace.
She left behind a son, daughter, mother, stepfather, father, and sister.
Her last public Facebook post – on 19th March 2021 – read: “I wanted to tell my husband, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! I hope you have a wonderful day!!! We love you my honey!!”
