Bruce Kuegel summarizes his 16 years as Commonwealth’s Attorney as a combination of challenging and rewarding experiences. As he steps away from the position at the end of the year, he says he is proud of how he has sought fair and just cases in Daviess County.
Some challenges were consistent ones for him: experiencing the emotions of crime scenes, exploring all evidence from a case, hearing a victim recount the crime. Most importantly, he said, was seeking justice not only for the victim but also for the Commonwealth.
“And sometimes that line gets blurred. Often the victims say to the prosecutor, ‘You’re my attorney.’ Well, we’re not. Our job is more than that; we’re representing the state, and we’re seeking to enforce the laws,” Kuegel said.
The top priority of his title was always ensuring a fair trial for the Commonwealth and the defendant, Kuegel said.
“I have never taken a case to trial, put plea, or anything like that where I was not 100% knowing that the person that is being charged, the person that is taking the plea, the person that’s been tried in a jury trial, is the person that committed the crime,” Kuegel said.
He said there were appeals along the way and an overturned verdict, but he was always confident in the investigation the police had conducted to find the guilty party.
A major portion of Kuegel’s job included working closely with the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office and Owensboro Police Department. He said the relationships with those agencies allowed him to do his job effectively and efficiently.
The level of service both agencies have, in Kuegel’s opinion, is unmatched by that in the state. If he were to ask for a fingerprint scan to be run, for example, it’d take a matter of hours compared to other larger agencies that may be overworked.
Overworking local agencies raised another challenge for Kuegel, as the number of homicides and violent crimes increased over his last few years.
“Daviess County — for a long, long time — had very, very few homicides. All of a sudden, our numbers are, as far as I’m concerned, off the charts with the homicides we have open right now and that are pending,” Kuegel said.
On top of the building caseload, Kuegel said cases all but came to a stop while COVID-19 closed courtrooms for a period. During the pandemic, the courts had difficulty finding locations where they could convene and host grand jury sessions every month.
“With clearance from Justice [John] Minton on the Kentucky Supreme Court, we were able to use the physical courtroom, and that just took everybody working together and our grand jurors being willing to come in and be exposed to [the virus],” he said.
Through it all, Kuegel noted there was a reward in finding ways to conduct trials.
“Justice is served. That’s where the reward is. It’s the fact that as a prosecutor and as the person presenting the case you know the case is solid, and you know that the person that is accused or the person that has been indicted is the person who’s responsible for the crime,” Kuegel said.
Before he was Commonwealth’s Attorney, Kuegel served 10 years in law enforcement. He said if he had been told early on that he would trade in his police cap to be the lead law enforcement officer in the county, he wouldn’t have believed it.
He also didn’t see himself serving the county for 26 years through both capacities.
“I never even had an idea that I would be as honored and privileged to serve in this capacity for these many years, and it’s been a great run,” he recalled.
Kuegel leaving the seat on December 31 will signal the start of his hiatus from law, and he doesn’t know if he will pick up the profession again. Instead, he is excited to take things at a slower pace and reflect on the support he received from the county and, most significantly, his wife.
“I hope people know that I tried. I didn’t just throw my hands up. But of course, I couldn’t do any of this without the support and the grounding of my wife,” Kuegel said.
Kuegel said that while Gov. Andy Beshear has yet to appoint a successor for the role until the 2024 election, he hopes First Assistant Mike Van Meter will be chosen. Van Meter is currently the only candidate who has filed for the position.
