Triple murder case to test justice system
Prosecutor already feels great impact on his own life as he prepares for trial

“This case is going to show once again that the judicial system in this circuit works — and works well,” said G.L. Ovey, commonwealth attorney for the 56th Judicial Circuit. “I don’t know what the outcome will be.”
Ovey was speaking of the triple murder case in which Kevin Wayne Dunlap of Hopkinsville is accused of slaying three Trigg County siblings, attempting to murder their mother, and setting fire to their home with them inside.
The crime occurred a little more than a year ago — Oct. 15, 2008 — in the victims’ Roaring Springs home, which is near the Fort Campbell military base. Slashed and stabbed to death were Kayla Williams, 17, Kortney McBurney-Frensley, 14, and Ethan Frensley, 5. Emergency responders found their mother, Kristy Frensley, 37, in the pool with a knife still in her neck.
Defense attorney James Gibson has filed notice that he will employ a mental illness defense, though he didn’t have to file until 20 days before the Feb. 9 trial.
The early notice gave Ovey ample time to seek his own mental evaluation of the accused. Ovey said early in the case that he would seek the death penalty.
Using a mental illness defense didn’t surprise Ovey. “I’m glad as it turned out that the court granted the short continuance of the trial from November to February, because in exchange for giving the delay, the defense agreed to file his notice early,” Ovey said. “If (Gibson) had filed on the 20th day, there’s no way I could have asked for a mental examination and gotten the defendant to KCPC (Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center).”
Now Ovey has already asked for his own mental examination, and Circuit Judge C.A. Woodall has signed the order. Ovey is waiting to get Dunlap into the center where he will be examined by a battery of mental health experts.
Woodall has set aside three weeks for the trial, “and it will take every bit of it,” Ovey said.
He called the slayings “the most tragic crimes imaginable,” adding that he didn’t detract from the other tragic crimes he has prosecuted since he was elected 21 years ago.
“This man was indicted quickly (last Nov. 12): all the examination of the evidence is now concluded, and that was a Herculean task given the amount of evidence,” he said. The prosecution has turned over more than 1,400 pages of discovery documents to the defense. “We have managed to secure testing (of evidence), managed to get a change of venue to try this case in a little over a year.
“I know the general public says, ‘That’s a long time.’ ... It is in a sense, but you are dealing with the ultimate punishment,” he said. “The ultimate crime occurred, and we’re seeking the ultimate punishment.”
Also the defense has other cases, as does the prosecution.
Ovey praised Kentucky State Police for the work done on the case.
“The type investigators we had on this case is something that everyone can be proud of,” he said. “Not only did they do a fantastic job, but they had feelings too. I asked one detective on the morning of the anniversary (of the crime) what he was doing that day, and the response was, ‘We’re all going to go to the scene.’”
Ovey said he observed the anniversary “in my own way.”
This case — like that of Brandon Thacker, the Alcohol Beverage Control agent shot on the Western Kentucky Parkway in 1998 — will likely follow Ovey to his grave.
“We all handle things differently,” he said. “I thought about the mother and the children and how quickly the time has gone by, and yet time has seemed to stand still. You wonder how it is a mother can be as tough as she is.”
The next step is another pretrial conference at 9 a.m. Nov. 13 in Livingston Circuit Court where the case was moved on a change of venue.
Because it’s a capital case, “We will do things a little differently as far as how we go about selecting the jury,” Ovey said. “We have a jury questionnaire the judge has prepared and circulated to counsel on both sides for our input. The questionnaires will go to the prospective jury panel, but it takes time for the clerk to get them all copied, get them out and time for the panel to answer the questionnaires.
“A jury questionnaire helps; I wish we did them in all trials, but it’s a time element,” Ovey said. “It’s an inordinate amount of time on the clerk, and they’ve got enough to do anyway.”
Ovey fully expects to hear opposing mental health experts testify, and he anticipates the trial to be difficult and tedious. He anticipates it will be difficult “in the sense that there are so many facts you have to recall and make sure you’ve got all the facts in the right order.
“... You’ve still got the burden of proof; ... you’ve got the proof of murder, and it gets into the nitty gritty. ... You don’t want it to be tedious for the jury; you don’t want to bore the jury, and you don’t think you will. But I’m always looking for different approaches and how to present it. I’m working on one now that I’ve never used before and I feel pretty confident it will work with the jury.”