LEXINGTON, Ky. — A newly unsealed superseding indictment has added an eighth defendant, Casey Allison Morris, 29, to the federal case accusing members of a Lexington drug network of plotting and carrying out the 2023 killing of Kristopher Lewis to stop him from testifying.
Morris, who pleaded not guilty during her Nov. 12 court appearance, is accused of joining the alleged murder-for-hire plan, including using phones and interstate travel as part of the arrangement. The indictment also charges her in a firearms conspiracy that prosecutors say involved a machine gun.
The filing marks a major shift in the case: prosecutors have now inserted the “special findings” required to pursue the federal death penalty. Those findings claim the killing was intentional, planned, done for payment, and created a risk to others—key factors federal law requires before a capital prosecution can move forward.
Because of that development, U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove has canceled the previously scheduled December trial and put the entire case on hold while the Attorney General decides whether to authorize a death-penalty prosecution. According to court records, if the trial is ultimately rescheduled, it is expected to last 24 days, reflecting the size and complexity of the case.
The superseding indictment further expands the picture of the alleged plot, charging that multiple defendants worked together between late September and October 2023 to kill Lewis to protect co-defendant Rollie Lamar in a separate federal narcotics case.
All eight defendants have now been arraigned on the new charges while the Justice Department’s capital-case review proceeds.