David J. Poppiti entered the plea at roughly 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday, an hour after a full day of testimony had adjourned in Bell Co. Circuit Court, according to Commonwealth Attorney Karen Greene Blondell.
“It certainly was unexpected,” said Blondell, who lead the case against Poppiti.
Poppiti pleaded guilty to two counts of his five count indictment: Wanton murder and fleeing or evading police. Count II of assault on a service animal in the first degree, Count IV of speeding 26 miles per hour or greater over the limit, and Count V of having no operators license were dismissed. The agreement Poppiti signed said that “the defendant wantonly engaged in conduct during the operation of the motor vehicle then under his control which caused the death of Deputy Sean Pursifull under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life and knowingly disobeyed signals to stop his vehicle in an attempt to elude the police.”
The recommended total sentence is 25 years, which includes 20 years for the murder charge and 5 years for police evasion, to be served consecutively. Poppiti wouldn’t be eligible to get parole until serving 85 percent of his murder sentence is served; likewise, he would have to serve 15 percent of his evasion sentence to get parole, according to the prosecution.
Defense Attorney Sam Castle said he was surprised the prosecution made his client such a “good” offer. He said it was a better deal than what Poppiti had gotten before the trial started. He said his client likely chose to enter the plea agreement because the Commonwealth “got in the range he wanted”, referring to the sentencing guidelines. He added that he thought Poppiti would have taken the plea earlier had the same offer been made.
While Castle filed earlier motions for a change of venue in an effort to get his client a fair trial, he said he believed the Judge “treated him fairly.” He also believed the plea agreement was also fair because all sides reported that they were pleased with it.
“My client’s satisfied,” said Castle.
Blondell said the decision came from Poppiti after he saw what was against him on Wednesday.
“Mr. Poppiti had an opportunity then to see almost the entire case against him,” said Blondell, adding the prosecution only had two witnesses left.
She said the decision to approve Poppiti’s plea was mutual among all parties involved, including Pursifull’s mother Bernice Mills, Bell County Sheriff Bruce Bennett, Kentucky State Police Officer P.J. Burnett, and KSP Detective Mitchell Williams.
“It was very important to law enforcement in this area that this be a murder conviction,” said Blondell. “The death of a police officer is a serious, devastating blow to a community. So I know that one of the reasons law enforcement wanted to agree to his offer to plead guilty to wanton murder is that they wanted a murder conviction.” She said that because Poppiti pleaded guilty, he cannot appeal the conviction.
Blondell said that the biggest misconception in this case was that the Commonwealth was looking for intentional murder. “That was never the case,” said Blondell. “We wanted the jury to be able to decide” between intentional and wanton murder. “Both are murder,” she added.
Blondell said this decision gives the family, the Sheriff’s Department, and the community “closure”.
“I’m very satisfied with the outcome,” said Blondell. “Justice was accomplished.”
Bell County Sheriff Bruce Bennett was pleased with the prosecutor's offense against Poppiti, calling Blondell's courtroom performance "masterful".
Stephen Woodward is a Staff Writer for the Daily News. He may be contacted at swoodward@middlesborodailynews.com.
you are not alone in feeling this way. I won't say too much because this community obviously knows how to bash others, but I was relatively pleased with the way the trial ended-I thought he would do much worse. In fact, I half-expected someone to come into the courtroom and shoot him. As for the comment that was apparently supposed to be sarcastic about inmates loving cop-killers... um-yeah, they actually do.