On March 3rd, 2008 my husband was murdered in the driveway of our home, in that moment my world fell apart. I do not formally recall the very first time I met Mike Stacy, most of the first court proceedings are a blur to me, but I remember some of the first moments we had with Mike and him encouraging us and reassuring us he was going to fight for us with everything he had in him, and that we would win. It felt like we had court every week so our time with Mike was often, and he became a friend to us and not just our prosecuting attorney. My respect for Mike grew and I watched him fight for us in that murder trial like he was fighting for justice for his own son. The murder trial ended in March 2009 and we felt justice had been served. Mike had done an outstanding job fighting on our behalf. In September 2011 I received a call that made me feel like my world was falling apart once again. My husband’s killer had been granted a new trial on a technicality in the first trial. We once again frequented Carlisle County Court House for the court proceedings. Mike was about as heartbroken over the overturning as we were, but he was once again fighting like his life depended on it. We went to trial in early 2014. After a stressful trial the jury let my husband’s killer go free. I remember Mike feeling so crushed over the verdict, and trying to comfort us and do what he could to protect us. He apologized and apologized, but we knew he had fought for justice with everything in him and we knew the outcome wasn’t his fault, in our eyes he was an outstanding prosecuting attorney who had done everything in his power to seek justice for our family once again. Mike became such a special person to us, and one that I looked up to with great respect. When I would drive by his office in Wickliffe, Ky. I would always think of him and wished I had time to stop in and say hello. I’d see him out and about from time to time and it always brightened my day to get a hug from him. On Tuesday, April 29th my Dad called me and shared the news that Mike had been killed in a car accident, I was devastated. I couldn’t imagine not running into him again. I regretted not thanking him more for his service to our family, and for fighting so hard for us. I regretted not telling him how much he meant to us. As I walked through the line at his visitation I looked around at the hundreds of people there and seen the impact he had on so many. I’ve read stories since his death about people he prosecuted and how he wrote them letters to let them know he was thinking of them and praying for them. I think I would be safe in saying you’d find very few attorneys who have done that. As I walked by his casket it felt a million memories flooded my mind, all the court proceedings, the murder trials, and the phone calls to update us on the case. I regretted that I couldn’t say thank you once again and I hoped he knew how much we appreciated all that he had done. I was trying to think of a way to honor him for all he had done for us, so I thought this would be a small way of doing it. 

Mike, thank you for your service to so many people, and for fighting for so many families. Thank you for giving people hope that they could start over again, and for praying for the ones that felt they had messed up so many times in life that there was no hope for them. Thank you Mike for all the many hours, the stress, the long nights you put in to fight for justice for our family, we will always be grateful for what you done. You will be missed by so many. 

Chera (Warren) Guthrie