A judge has stirred controversy by reducing the sentence of a convicted sex offender to half the term advised by the jury, even after he threatened a prosecutor’s life upon his release.
Christopher Earl Thompson, aged 23, faced conviction in December for a series of serious offenses, including robbery, kidnapping, sodomy, and sexual abuse, following a July 2023 assault on a woman.
Thompson, masked in a ski mask, kidnapped the victim at gunpoint in her own vehicle, forcing her to perform oral sex twice, according to court documents.
Despite the severity of his actions, Judge Tracy E. Davis expressed that Thompson, who she believes had been neglected during his teenage years, still holds the potential for rehabilitation, as reported by WAVE.
“This court does not believe that Mr. Thompson, if given the resources that he can get while incarcerated, is beyond being rehabilitated,” Judge Davis stated in court.
Thompson received a 30-year prison sentence, significantly less than the 65-year term recommended by the jury.
The sentencing came even as Davis acknowledged that Thompson had previously told prosecutor Milja Zgonjanin ‘I will see you in 20 years, b****.’
Thompson then added: ‘Eat my d****, b****. I’m going to pop your a**.’
Judge Tracy E. Davis sentenced a sex attacker to half the recommended sentence
Thompson repeatedly lashed out at the judge during his sentencing hearing
‘D**** s*****, f**** y’all kids, and f**** y’all’s dead loved ones,’ Thompson said. ‘Suck my d***, b****.’
He is said to have added: ‘If I could spit on you, I would.’
In the moments before Davis reduced the jury’s recommended sentence, Thompson again lashed out.
‘I don’t have sympathy for you, the victim, the victim’s family,’ Thompson said.
Thompson, now 23, was convicted of robbery, kidnapping, sodomy and sexual abuse after attacking a woman he did not know in July 2023
Davis admonished Thompson for his behavior as she asked him to ‘sit back and be quiet.’
She said: ‘it is just a shame that you can’t look at all of this, all of these things and say, ‘As of today, February 2 of 2026, I want to be a different person. I want a better outcome. I want to be an asset to society’.’
Thompson repeatedly interrupted the judge, asking how he could become an asset ‘if I’ve got 65 years.’
Davis said imposing the jury’s recommended 65-year sentence would have been ‘one of the toughest decisions that this court could ever make,’ even as Thompson claimed he did not care.
She noted that he had shown no remorse or willingness to become an ‘active’ member of society.
‘You came in here off the cuff saying negative things, trying to get a response out of everybody, and that’s not it,’ she said. ‘I hope that you get what you need while you are incarcerated.’
The hearing had started with Thompson telling the judge, ‘I ain’t doing nothing with my d***.’
Davis added: ‘I hope that somewhere along the line, your brain fully develops, and you begin to make better decisions so that you are not someone that can cause harm to the community, and so that you yourself do not get harmed.’
Thompson will be eligible for parole after 20 years.
His crimes were described as ‘every woman’s worst nightmare’ by Zgonjanin, the Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney.
After abducting the victim in her own car, Thompson drove her to a school parking lot, where he forced her to perform sexual acts while threatening her with a gun.
He also took her to an ATM between assaults and withdrew money from her account.
Thompson previously told prosecutor Milja Zgonjanin ‘I will see you in 20 years, b****’
Louisville Republicans have criticized Davis’ decision to cut Thompson’s sentence from 65 years to 30.
Councilman Anthony Piagentini, the minority caucus chair, called her ruling an assault on Kentucky’s justice system.
‘Where’s the concern for the victim? Do we think she’s going to get over this in 30 years?’ Piagentini said Monday, per the Louisville Courier Journal.
He added: ‘Where’s the concern for the safety of the public when he does get released from jail? Where’s the concern for the respect for the jury process?’
Piagentini called Thompson a ‘disgusting, evil sociopath’ and said he should never breathe ‘free air’ again.
He also criticized Davis’ record, saying that county clerk data showed she granted shock probation more than any other Jefferson County judge between January 2023 and last August.
‘If she believes that her decisions are all justifiable and good, she should welcome this level of transparency,’ Piagentini said. ‘I think the opposite. I think the public would be appalled to hear what she is doing and how her decisions reduce the safety of our community.’
Thompson’s prior criminal record included juvenile crimes like theft, robbery and truancy.
His lawyer, Clay Kennedy, said he had never seen a judge bypass a jury’s recommendation.
He claimed that Thompson’s upbringing was among the saddest he has encountered in his legal career.
Thompson was on probation and in a diversion program at the time of the sex attack. Police said he had a stolen firearm and fled from officers, per court records.
A spokesperson for Jefferson County Circuit Court issued a statement on Davis’ decision, according to the Courier Journal.
‘While it may be relatively rare for judges to reduce a jury’s sentencing recommendation, judges are called on to make sentencing decisions dispassionately, proportionately, and according to law,’ they said, per the outlet.
‘Not according to or in fear of how the public may perceive or react to that decision.’
The Daily Mail has contacted Judge Davis and the Jefferson Circuit Court for comment.
