A Kentucky man who was incarcerated for nearly nine years for stabbing his neighbor has been exonerated and freed.
John Brandon Lamotte, 32, of Frankfort, was wrongfully convicted in 2019 for the stabbing of his neighbor, Kate Sanders. On Wednesday, after nearly a decade of fighting to prove his innocence, the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeals’ 2023 reversal of his conviction.
“Today has been a long time coming for Brandon and his family and friends, who have fought tirelessly for the truth to be exposed. The false charges levied against him and the many years of wrongful incarceration have had a severe impact on them all. Our hope is that with the appellate court’s rulings, Brandon and his family can begin rebuilding their lives,” said Amy Robinson Staples of the Exoneration Project, one of Lamotte’s attorneys.
In 2017, when asked by emergency responders immediately after the assault who had attacked her, Sanders named her ex-boyfriend, with whom she had an undisputed violent and toxic relationship. But during the investigation, Frankfort Police Department set their sights on Lamotte, Sanders’ neighbor.
At trial, Sanders testified that Lamotte was her attacker. A Franklin Circuit Court convicted Lamotte of first-degree assault and sentenced him to 11 years in prison. He has always maintained his innocence.
After the trial, Sanders recanted her perjured trial testimony to at least three different individuals on three different occasions, as well as on public social media posts, admitting she had sent an innocent man to prison.
With the help of the Exoneration Project and the Kentucky Innocence Project, Lamotte filed a motion to vacate his conviction based upon the victim’s perjured statements and additional withheld exculpatory evidence that was uncovered during a post-conviction investigation.
In August 2020, the Franklin Circuit Court denied Lamotte’s motion. In 2023, the Kentucky Court of Appeals issued an opinion reversing Lamotte’s conviction, finding there was insufficient evidence presented at trial to convict Lamotte. For the next two years, however, Lamotte continued to languish in prison while the commonwealth of Kentucky fought the appellate court’s decision, requesting a reconsideration of the opinion.
In March 2025, the Court of Appeals rendered a second opinion, 70 pages in length, upholding the reversal of Lamotte’s conviction. Prosecutors appealed and sought discretionary review with the Kentucky Supreme Court.
On Wednesday, the Kentucky Supreme Court denied the Commonwealth’s Motion for Discretionary Review, exonerating Lamotte after nearly nine years of wrongful accusation, conviction and incarceration.
(Photo: John B. Lamotte, courtesy of the Investigation of John Brandon Lamotte Trial)
By the Exoneration Project and Ken Howlett, News Director
