A manslaughter charge against a woman who allegedly shot her boyfriend was amended to murder Wednesday during a preliminary hearing in Henderson District Court.
Lauren Jarvis, 36, was initially charged with second-degree manslaughter in connection to a March 10 shooting that killed her boyfriend, Ryan Patrick Jobe. The Henderson County Sheriff’s Office said in initial investigations that it appeared that Jarvis shot at Jobe, who was wearing a bulletproof vest.
According to reports, Jobe, 40, was pronounced dead after emergency medical services arrived at the scene that night.
At the end of a 38-minute preliminary hearing Wednesday, District Judge Jill Brady agreed with prosecutors that there was probable cause the March 10 incident fit the description of murder with a subsection involving wanton behavior—Kentucky Revised Statutes 507.020(1)(b)—which states:
“Including, but not limited to, the operation of a motor vehicle under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life, (s)he wantonly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to another person and thereby causes the death of another person.”
“I don’t know how it could be any more clear in the statute,” Brady said.
The judge scheduled the case to be presented to a Henderson County grand jury on April 1. She said, though, the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office can present the evidence as it sees fit then and may not choose to pursue the murder charge.
Brady ordered Jarvis back to court for a 9 a.m., April 8 arraignment, when the defendant will learn the grand jury’s decision.
In video of the preliminary hearing obtained from the Henderson County Circuit Court clerk’s office, Jarvis’ attorney, Dax Womack, argued that evidence presented is insufficient to support wanton murder.
Womack said someone who intends to harm another person doesn’t wait for that person to put on a bulletproof vest before shooting. In testimony throughout the hearing, Henderson County Sheriff’s Office Detective Matt Brooks said Jobe—according to an interview with Jarvis—was wearing a bulletproof vest throughout the evening of the incident and was wearing one at the time of the shooting.
Additionally, according to Jarvis, Jobe had shot himself while wearing the bulletproof vest that evening and then continually asked Jarvis to shoot him, as well, Brooks testified. This is another reason Womack said the evidence doesn’t support murder.
“This is an accident,” Womack said. “If it’s not an accident, at worst, it’s reckless homicide.”
He said people who intend to commit crimes don’t typically call police, don’t call 911, don’t perform CPR and don’t cooperate with police, which was what Jarvis did the night of the incident. He also said that when Brooks’ investigation was just completed and information was fresh in his mind, the detective determined the charge should be second-degree manslaughter.
Bobby Norris, an assistant county attorney, argued though that enough evidence was present for the murder charge. He said that just pointing a gun at someone is enough for a first-degree wanton endangerment charge.
“Here we have pointing a gun at somebody, pulling the trigger and a death resulted,” Norris said, adding that’s more than enough evidence for the charge of murder pursuant to the subsection.
In the course of Brooks’ testimony, the detective detailed statements made by Jarvis on the night of the incident and the early morning hours of the next day when she was interviewed by the sheriff’s office. He described a chaotic scene in a detached garage of a home shared by Jarvis and Jobe on Rudy Road, when Jobe shot himself while wearing a bulletproof vest and then continually asked Jarvis to shoot him.
Finally, with Jobe’s back turned to her, she had the .22 rifle pointed at him, closed her eyes, and when she opened them, Jobe fell to the floor, Brooks said Jarvis told him. He asked if Jobe pulled the trigger and she said no, the detective said. He asked her if she pulled the trigger, and she said, “I think I did,” but then said she doesn’t remember.
Brooks said that a projectile went through the fabric of the back of the bulletproof vest just above the vest’s steel plate. He said this was the same area where the gunshot wound was found on Jobe.
Two more points that Norris made to support his argument was that 10 minutes passed from the time of the shooting until the time Jarvis called 911, and Jarvis didn’t initially tell authorities of the gunshot wound.
Through questioning of Brooks, Womack said that the couple started the night having no issues, that investigators have not established a motive and Jarvis and Jobe were planning to get married.
Jarvis is lodged in the Henderson County Detention Center with a $250,000 bond, an increase from the $100,000 bond in place before the charge was amended.
