Central Kentucky man pleads guilty to lesser charge in 2021 fatal shooting
A Lexington man charged with murder pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and is expected to be sentenced later this month, court records show.
Raekwon Burse, 27, was charged with murder in the shooting death of Akeem Lyvers, 24, near the 21C Hotel downtown in November 2021. Burse was arrested a month after the incident.
A week-long jury trial was scheduled to start September 18, but Burse entered the guilty plea on August 21, according to court records.
In addition to murder, he faced charges of being a convicted felon in possession of a gun, receiving a stolen gun, buying or possessing drug paraphernalia and trafficking in marijuana, cocaine, heroin and carfentanil or fentanyl derivatives, according to court documents. These charges could be dismissed as part of the guilty plea.
Burse faces eight years in prison. That sentence would run consecutively with additional sentences related to fleeing and evading police in 2018 and 2020, according to court documents.
He is scheduled for sentencing Sept. 22 where a judge will decide if he should receive probation, imprisonment or conditional discharge.
