The Kentucky Commonwealth’s Attorneys Association named Kenton County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Emily J. Arnzen 2022 Outstanding Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney.
Arnzen was also a featured speaker at the Association’s Winter Conference in Lexington, Kentucky. Arnzen presented “Innovative Prosecutions of Online Crimes Against Children” to dozens of prosecutors from across Kentucky. Arnzen is the second prosecutor from Kenton County to win this prestigious award. (Ret.) First Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney James Redwine was the inaugural award recipient in 2011.
The award was presented by Kentucky Commonwealth’s Attorney Association President R. Brian Wright (29th Circuit – Adair & Casey Counties).
“Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Emily Arnzen has established herself as one of the most prolific trial attorneys in the 16th Judicial Circuit and served as lead counsel for the Commonwealth in dozens of major trials,” Wright said. “Emily is responsible for prosecuting all of Kenton County’s cases involving online sexual exploitation of children. She also is assigned to prosecute murders, rapes, child molesting, arson, and other victim intensive cases.”
According to Wright some of Emily’s most significant guilty verdicts by jury trial are:
• 70 years for Kenton County’s most prolific statutory rapist and producer of child pornography.
• 60- and 25-year sentences for two brothers who burned down a family’s home to cover up their burglary of the home while the family was on vacation.
“Emily is also a team player,” Wright said.
She has co-counseled guilty verdicts by jury trial in several major cases, including:
• 70 years for Murder & Assault in a “cold case” prosecution years after a young mother was killed in a drive-by shooting targeting her boyfriend.
• 8 Life Sentences the jury tried to run consecutively for a man who video recorded the rape and sodomy of two girls under 12.
Some defendants pled guilty even when Emily has refused to make plea offers resulting in lengthy sentences including:
• 70 years for incest, rape, sodomy, and promoting child pornography for man who video recorded the sexual abuse of his daughter.
• 70 years for a self-professed pedophile who wrote a novel about molesting children and re-stocked his collection of child pornography after being released on bond then wall papered a room in his house with it.
Emily has been with the Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Office since graduating University of Cincinnati Law School in 2013 when she retired from her career as a professional athlete in the NFL.
