SOMERSET, KENTUCKY - They were part of what seemed to be a simple campaign for sheriff in a sparsely populated Kentucky county: an ambitious young candidate and two followers who had their sights set on an upcoming primary. <br>
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But authorities said the campaign turned deadly when the trio allegedly carried out a plot to kill Pulaski County Sheriff Sam Catron, who was assassinated in a sniper-style shooting at a political rally over the weekend. <br>
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On Monday, candidate Jeff Morris, 34, and Kenneth White, 54, were charged with complicity to murder. A third man, Danny Shelley, 30, was charged with pulling the trigger at the rally and fish fry in front of more than 300 people.<br>
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Authorities said the campaign tied the three together. Shelley was one of two witnesses who signed candidate filing papers for Morris, while White had helped Morris' campaign as a grass-roots worker. <br>
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``I think it's safe to say it's political,'' Pulaski County Commonwealth's Attorney Eddy Montgomery told the Lexington Herald-Leader in Tuesday's editions. <br>
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Shelley was apprehended following the shooting after wrecking a motorcycle registered to Morris, who would have faced Catron in the May 28 Republican primary. Shelley's lawyer entered an innocent plea to a capital murder charge Monday. <br>
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All three men, who were being held without bond, could face the death penalty if convicted, said Montgomery.<br>
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``Complicity to commit murder carries the same penalty as the murder itself,'' Montgomery said at a news conference Monday. <br>
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There was no answer at Morris' home Monday and it wasn't immediately known if he had an attorney. White and Morris were scheduled to be arraigned Friday. <br>
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Morris was Catron's deputy from 1996 to July 2001, said Jim McWhorter, the chief deputy sworn in as sheriff. <br>
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McWhorter told The Courier-Journal of Louisville that Morris resigned after he was called into Catron's office for a disciplinary reason. He said Morris would not have been fired over the issue, which he described as an ``internal matter'' but wouldn't elaborate. He said Morris chose to resign. <br>
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John Nelson, a Somerset resident who often carpooled with Morris, told the newspaper that Morris was determined to unseat Catron as sheriff from the day he resigned as deputy. ``He said he would be sheriff when Sammy got out,'' Nelson said. ``He said he wanted it so bad. That's all he talked about.'' <br>
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Catron, 48, had been sheriff of the south-central Kentucky county since 1985. He was known for personally piloting a helicopter to search for marijuana plots and patrolling the streets. <br>
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Catron was wearing a bulletproof vest Saturday. He often did because of what happened to his father in 1957: Then-Somerset Police Chief Harold Catron was shot in front of his home by three men. <br>
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The elder Catron died in 1964 of a heart attack caused by a shift in a shotgun pellet that remained lodged in his body from the shooting, said Jacinta Manning, a spokeswoman for the Department of Criminal Justice. <br>
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The younger Catron died instantly of a rifle shot to his head, Coroner Alan Stringer said. He said the shot came from a considerable distance. <br>
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It's not the first time in recent years that a local candidate has been accused of assassinating an opponent. <br>
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Two years ago in Tennessee, a man prosecutors said was consumed by a thirst for political power was sentenced to life in prison for the 1998 shooting death of his election opponent, state Sen. Tommy Burks. <br>
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And in Georgia, former DeKalb County Sheriff Sidney Dorsey is accused of ordering the 2000 murder of the man who defeated him for re-election. Prosecutors say four men carried out the murder on Dorsey's orders.
