{Louisville, Kentucky}...The Kentucky Supreme Court has reversed the murder conviction of 70 year old Billy Reed Caudill of Jackson, sending the case back to Breathitt Circuit Court for a new trial. Caudill was sentenced in 2010 to 35 years in prison after being convicted in August 2009 in the shooting death of his neighbor, Randall Carpenter. Carpenter was killed during a 12-second shootout. The court found that a prosecutor improperly offered a personal opinion on whether Caudill had a duty to retreat from the confrontation and that the prosecutor's conduct was "unbecoming of his position of authority as a 'minister of justice'" who had a duty to ensure a fair trial.
