JOHNSON COUNTY MAN UP FOR PAROLE IN CONNECTION TO 2013 LAWRENCE COUNTY MANSLAUGHTER CASE

JUNE 13, 2019, written by WADE QUEEN

PAINSTVILLE RESIDENT JOSHUA A. FITZPATRICK, LEFT,  WHO COULD SOON BE RELEASED ON PAROLE IN REGARDS TO HIS OCTOBER 2013 VEHICLE COLLISION DEATH IN LAWRENCE COUNTY, THAT KILLED A WELL-KNOWN RESIDENT JOHNNY ‘KEITH’ MAYNARD.

A Johnson County man who is serving time in a state prison for a second-degree manslaughter charge that happened in Lawrence County will be eligible for a possible parole in July.

Joshua A. Fitzpatrick, current age 41, originally from Paintsville, pleaded guilty to the death of Johnny Keith Maynard of Lawrence County, following a motor vehicle collision crash, in October 2013, in Louisa near Three Rivers Medical Center.

According to the press report released by the Kentucky State Police-Post 14 in Ashland shorty after the criminal incident, on October 4, 2013, local law enforcement authorities in the area received a report of a vehicle traveling on U.S. 23 in the northern lane in a reckless manner, and the KSP trooper Devan Cleaver responded to the call.

Trooper Cleaver located the suspect vehicle, a tan 2001 Toyota Camry, driven by Joshua Fitzpatrick, and he observed him committing violations, at which time trooper Cleaver initiated his emergency equipment and attempted to conduct a traffic stop.

However, the vehicle then accelerated and traveled at a high rate of speed in an attempt to elude trooper Cleaver, who continued to pursue the vehicle, which then turned onto Ky. 644 and continued at a high rate of speed and in reckless manner, according the KSP press release report.

Joshua Fitzpatrick then lost control of the vehicle as he was passing the intersection of Ky. 644 and B Street, traveling in to westbound lane of Ky. 644 and into the path of two motorcycles, the front motorcycle operated by Amy Bradley Maynard, the wife of Keith Maynard, who was behind her operating on the second motorcycle, according to the KSP report.

Amy Maynard managed to swerve away in time from being struck by the vehicle driven by Joshua Fitzpatrick, but Keith Maynard was unable to avoid a collision of his motorcycle with Fitzpatrick.

Maynard suffered several life-threatening injuries, as he was thrown from the motorcycle upon impact, and was later pronounced deceased by Assistant Lawrence County Coroner Raymond Byrd, said KSP report.

It was later revealed in various reports that Joshua Fitzpatrick had been involved in a domestic dispute with his mother in Paintsville earlier in that same day, and that he had fled the scene in the Camry, which was then reported stolen, according to state police.

Joshua A. Fitzpatrick was later indicted in both Lawrence and Johnson counties in the related connections with the entirety of the of the whole situational incident.

The indictments returned against Fitzpatrick in Lawrence County charged him with murder, first-offense operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol/drugs, first-degree  fleeing or evading from police in a motor vehicle, operating on a suspended or revoked operator’s license, and second-degree persistent felony offender.

In Johnson County, Fitzpatrick was indicted with criminal charges for the prior incidents that had occurred that lead up to the Lawrence County wreck, that were consisted of that included second-degree robbery, second-degree persistent felony offender, fourth degree assault, and unauthorized use of an automobile.

According to the Johnson County indictments, Joshua Fitzpatrick knowingly and unlawfully, while in the course of committing the theft of $100 cash from Deborah Fitzpatrick, used or threatened the immediate use of physical force in an attempt in accomplish the theft; physically assaulted Deborah Fitzpatrick, and that Joshua Fitzpatrick was in physical control of her vehicle without her permission.

Joshua Fitzpatrick initially entered a not guilty plea in December 2013, but he eventually accepted a plea deal on October 10, 2014, that was to have Fitzpatrick sentenced to serve 20 years in prison.

The guilty plea prison sentence given to Joshua Fitzpatrick was imposed on November 14, 2014, and that it was required that he had to serve only 20 percent of his prison term (5 years) before he could be eligible for parole.