Adopted daughter of former LMPD lieutenant convicted of incest fights to block his parole

By Gil Corsey

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The adopted daughter of a former Louisville Metro Police Department officer is fighting to keep him in prison after he sexually abused her for years.

After serving less than three years of a 15 year sentence, Sean Jackman, who pleaded guilty to charges including incest and sexual abuse, is coming up for parole.

His daughter, Samantha Killary said, "I'm angry, and I'm sad, and I'm hurt, and I feel like it's just another slap in the face."

Killary said Kentucky's parole board told her the hearing will come up in November.

"It's not right," she said. "It's not justice."

A recorded telephone call cemented Jackman's conviction. Below is a partial transcript of that call between Jackman and Killary.

Jackman: "I do have this pit in my gut all the time when I think about it. How remorseful I am about the worst, worst thing ever in my life."

Killary: "I'm so confused how we went from, from you trying to educate me to you performing oral sex on me, Dad."

Jackman: "I told you, I don't really have any type of a logical lie. Way back when your mom and I were still together, I got tied up in stupid Internet porn crap."

That conversation was recorded by LMPD. Jackman pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sodomy, incest, sexual abuse and wanton endangerment. 

Killary fought her father's plea deal from the start, saying he'd get out too quickly, and that he was getting special treatment as a former officer. 

Jackman adopted her as a toddler, and Killary said the molestation happened in her pre-teen and teenage years from 2001 to 2006. She came forward as an adult in 2015 after Jackman retired from LMPD. He served on the now-defunct VIPER unit tasked with solving the city's most violent crimes.

"I lost my entire childhood, and he's lost, what, two-and-a-half years so far, of freedom," Killary said. "I just don't think that that is a reasonable punishment for the crime."

She has launched a two-month campaign asking people to write emails and letters to the Kentucky Parole Board on her behalf.

That campaign has gained high-profile support, including from TV host Chris Hanson, known for headlining the show "To Catch a Predator." Hanson posted a video supporting Killary.

"I've seen these cases before and oftentimes the perpetrators are not only known to their victims but they don't serve enough time," Hansen said in the video.

Jackman's sentence required that he complete a sex offender treatment program while behind bars.

"I don't know how someone could be rehabilitated from something like this in a year-and-a-half when I've spent a decade, at least, in therapy and I still have a long way to go," Killary said.

She hopes the voice of the victim will be heard.

Killary wrote a book about her experience called "Out of the Blue" to help other survivors of sexual abuse. She said she's also launching a non-profit to help victims get counseling and other resources.