A Hopkinsville, Kentucky man who went on a two-state crime spree after murdering a Wayne County Sheriff’s Deputy on I-64 now faces 30 criminal counts in Clinton County Court in connection with a kidnapping and home invasion that brought the ordeal to an end in rural Carlyle.
The charges allege that on December 29th of last year Ray Tate secretly confined two persons against their will at a residence in rural Carlyle while armed. He’s also accused of discharging the firearms.
The 30 counts include nine counts of Class X aggravated kidnapping, four counts of Class X home invasion, three counts of residential burglary, one count of aggravated possession of a stolen firearm, three counts of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, one count of aggravated battery, six counts of aggravated unlawful restraint, and three counts of reckless discharge of a firearm.
Tate previously plead guilty and was sentenced to life in prison without parole for charges stemming from the December 2021 murder of Wayne County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Riley. Tate has since filed a handwritten motion from his cell at the Menard Correctional Center seeking to withdraw his guilty plea and that his sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole be vacated.
In the motion, he makes three arguments. First, the plea was the result of coercion. He claims he wasn’t allowed phone, mail, or visits and threatened that unless he told a plea he wouldn’t be allowed those rights. Secondly, Tate claims he did not have adequate representation by his attorney regarding the plea. Third, he was not competent to enter the guilty plea.
A hearing on the motion is set in Wayne County Court for Tuesday, June 28th.
