WHAS11 coverage

More details released in hit and run that killed 2 girls near U of L

Man arrested for hit and run has history of evading police

Raw video from the scene

Photos from the scene

WHAS11 report from the hospital

(WHAS11) - The Louisville man charged with hitting and killing two little girls while he was fleeing police this summer has already gotten a break from Kentucky’s prison system according to some.

WHAS11 News has learned that Kenielle Finch’s first prison sentence was cut short, by the state’s new, controversial early release policy. 

Finch’s case may now be exhibit A in the attorney general’s lawsuit, challenging that policy.

First, let’s make clear that Kenielle Finch is still behind bars, awaiting trial for the July murders of two little girls he struck while they were crossing the street near the University of Louisville.

Finch was a parole violator with a long list of criminal charges when police finally caught him after that hit and run.  Little did Finch know what a break he was about to get from the state prison system.   Commonwealth’s attorney David Stengel is outraged and says you should be too.

What he’s accused of doing brought tears to many faces in Louisville in July.  Kenielle Finch, while fleeing police, allegedly ran over two little girls while they were walking home from a swimming pool. 

Finch was already on Louisville’s most wanted list.   He was a paroled felon who’d been on the run for eight months.  So when finch was arrested on the girls’ murders, he was tossed back in state prison to serve out his parole violation and the rest of his eight year sentence on a slew of other felony charges. 

But then, 12 days later, the state gave Finch credit for 692 days, nearly two years worth of so-called street credit, for the time he was on parole and not convicted of a new crime.  So because of the state’s new early release policy, Finch wrapped up his sentence on those earlier charges last week. 

Finch is no longer in prison but he is still in the Louisville jail. He was transferred there awaiting trial on those new murder charges involving 5-year-old Claudia Wadlington and 4-year-old Riley Lawrence.  If he makes bond or judge rules against prosecutors, Finch would be back on the street.   

Attorney General jack Conway is suing the state justice cabinet over its new early release policy, claiming it’s putting violent offenders back on the street too soon.  Prison officials and state lawmakers say Kentucky is only following the lead of other states in trying to cut millions of dollars in prison costs.