In Jessamine Circuit Court, Judge Hunter Daugherty followed the recommendation of the jury and sentenced Oliver to 35 years to be served consecutively.
Oliver, 34, subsequently released his legal council after sentencing and, representing himself, filed for an appeal to the Kentucky Supreme Court three days later on Feb. 27.
Oliver claims that the ride given to him that night by the victim, James “Andy” Boggess, was to elevate a “debt against some drugs” and that he never intended to cause him any bodily harm. Oliver testified in court that injuries were a result of “self defense.”
According to Nicholasville police, shortly after midnight on Sept. 17, 2010, the taxi driver, Boggess, was stabbed multiple times, robbed and left bleeding in critical condition by Oliver near Lake Mingo in the driveway of his mother’s home.
At that time, former Nicholasville police Maj. John Branscum, who retired last year, stated that Boggess was driving Oliver the night of the incident and when they arrived at a location near Lake Mingo, Oliver pulled a kitchen knife in an attempt to rob the taxi driver.
The pair struggled, and Boggess was stabbed multiple times and left bleeding profusely while Oliver ran off, according to police.
Police found Boggess when responding to a noise complaint at Nave Place and heard Boggess yelling for for help.
Branscum said EMTs arrived in just enough time to tend to wounds in Boggess’ neck, wrist and stomach and deliver him to the hospital where he underwent surgery and survived.
Police soon found Oliver near Orchard subdivision, only a few blocks away, also with several cuts and abrasions. This is when he claimed that it was the taxi driver who pulled the knife in a “drug deal gone bad.”
After a few hours, police eventually found the bloody knife used in the incident ditched somewhere between Lake Mingo and Orchard subdivision, Branscum said.
Oliver’s mother was set to testify that the kitchen knife did not come from her home, she stated in a letter to Daugherty; however, she was prevented by Oliver’s lawyer after she did what she thought was “Christian” and apologized to Boggess for the “rough year” both he and her son had gone through.
There were several other letters that went through to Daugherty pleading for leiniciey, all of which paint the picture of a young man stricken by drug addiction and a series of petty and felony crimes most of his adult life.
Records show several convictions of third-degree burglary in Fayette County, and also theft by deception, carrying a concealed deadly weapon and felony offense probation violation.
His earlier convictions included some jail time and drug court in 1999 but he was again arrested in 2005 for theft by deception including cold checks of less than $300 and less than $500.
Oliver currently awaits his appeal to the Kentucky Supreme Court hearing in the Whitley County Detention Center.
