BY ANNIE HOLLER
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

WILLIAMSON, W.Va. — The Matewan man convicted of killing West Virginia State Police Sgt. Cory Maynard as the trooper prayed for his life, will spend the rest of his own life in prison with no possibility of parole.

Mingo County Circuit Judge Joshua Butcher imposed the life sentence without mercy Tuesday before a standing-room-only courtroom filled with Maynard’s family, friends, former co-workers, state troopers and law enforcement officers.

Timothy David Kennedy, 32, was convicted in May of first-degree murder in the June 2, 2023, shooting death of Maynard, 37, who had responded to a report of shots fired in the Beech Creek community near Matewan.

The jury also found Kennedy guilty of the attempted murder of civilian Benjamin Baldwin, the attempted murder of West Virginia State Police Trooper C.K. Johnson, first-degree robbery and disarming a police officer. Jurors rejected mercy after the trial, ensuring the life sentence would carry no possibility of parole.

Before Butcher announced the sentence Tuesday, Maynard’s widow, Rachel Maynard, his mother, Leslie Maynard, and other family members stood before the court and described the damage Kennedy left behind.

Leslie Maynard spoke directly to Kennedy.

“The hell you have caused our family to go through is nothing compared to the hell that awaits you one day,” she said. “I’m going to talk loud to you, Timothy, because I want you to clearly hear and remember every word I’m saying to you today.

“I pray that the sentence you receive here today shows you the same mercy you extended to my son when he was praying for God to spare his life. You showed no mercy — and you deserve no mercy.”

Rachel Maynard spoke through tears about losing her husband and the life their family was forced to live without him.

“I never got to say goodbye to my person,” she said. “A part of me truly died along with Cory that day. While I’ve learned to handle my own grief most of the time, the pain my children have suffered can never be forgiven.”

Prosecutors said Kennedy shot Maynard three times with a long gun, beat him and stripped him of his service revolver after the trooper arrived on Beech Creek. Authorities later captured Kennedy driving a stolen vehicle, with Maynard’s police-issued revolver recovered from the seat beside him.

Baldwin, whom prosecutors said Kennedy shot and seriously wounded before Maynard arrived, testified during the May trial. Trooper Johnson also testified that he narrowly escaped becoming another victim after arriving as the second officer on the scene.

In addition to the life-without-mercy sentence, Butcher ordered Kennedy to serve consecutive prison terms on the remaining convictions: three to 15 years for the attempted murder of Baldwin, three to 15 years for the attempted murder of Johnson, 50 years for the robbery of Maynard and one to five years for disarming a law enforcement officer.

Maynard left behind his wife, son, daughter, mother, siblings, family and a law enforcement community that showed up in the courtroom Tuesday to see the case through.

The sentence did not undo anyone’s loss. But it did answer the request they carried into court.

No mercy.