Months before a Lexington shooting death he was accused in, Brandon Dockery told the state parole board that he’d changed in the years since he burned down an apartment building.
Dockery was released in November 2020, decades before completing his 45-year prison sentence he’d been given for a guilty plea on second-degree arson, two counts of attempted murder and five counts of wanton endangerment.
In July, he was shot by law enforcement during a standoff with police who were serving an arrest warrant on a murder charge. Police said at the time that Dockery fired three shots, law enforcement fired back striking him once in the hand and grazing his head.
He’d been cornered by U.S. Marshals and Lexington police. He was wanted in connection with the July shooting death of 30-year-old Raymar Webb.
We obtained the audio recordings of his September 2020 parole hearing to find out what he said before his early release.
“I really want to do better, every mistake I make I use it to learn and grow,” Dockery said during the hearing.
His prison sentence had been handed down after he admitted to setting fire to an apartment building off Centre Parkway in 2010. Multiple people were in the apartment building at the time of the fire, including a woman who was injured when she had to jump from her third-floor balcony to escape the flames.
“I realized I put those people in unnecessary harm, put those people in danger,” Dockery said during his 2020 parole hearing.
The fire destroyed the building, leaving dozens without a home.
“I'm really sorry for the mistakes I made and I'm sincere, and I'm committed to my change inside and outside of prison,” Dockery said in the hearing.
When Dockery was first sentenced to 45 years in prison in the 2010 case, his only charge considered “violent” was second-degree arson, according to court records. The charges of attempted murder were decided to be “non-violent” because the intended targets of the fire were not seriously injured, according to the records.
Dockery’s charges in connection with the standoff with police and the shooting death of Webb will be heard by a grand jury. The grand jury will decide whether or not to indict him on the charges, which would send his cases to Fayette County Circuit Court to be prepared for trial.
