Nancy Tucker made it clear how she felt Friday afternoon in Christian County Circuit Court.
The senseless December 2023 death of her son, 34-year-old Adrian Tucker, has left sleepless nights for the family. Too numerous to count.
The young man who pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, Jaden Johnson, had only to sit and listen.
She called her pain “an indescribable nightmare,” one that swirls because she can no longer go to the movies, out to eat or be a part of family functions, lest she think about what could have been if Adrian had continued to live.
Adrian, she said, was supposed to have more chapters.
She admitted she cries “every day,” and has no appreciation for Johnson’s apparent hubris.
“Five years,” she added, “is nothing,” and she said “no amount of time is enough for taking” her son’s life in the way he did. She also called Johnson “lucky,” because he still has family to say “I love you,” but she no longer has Adrian.
Adrian has two devoted aunts: Jacqueline West of Denton, Texas, and Mary Matlock, of Hopkinsville. A channeled statement from them brought vitriol.
A letter from long-time girlfriend Jessica Hampton and her daughter, Kinley, was also read into the record.
Along with the smirks in court, Jessica wrote that Johnson somehow “found more trouble” after the accident — which apparently “didn’t change him at all.”
She also wrote that the family has yet to heal, and that the two were supposed to run away together.
And like many others, Jessica minced zero words about the penalty.
Authorities reported Johnson was driving more than 90 mph in a posted 35 mph zone on Bill Bryan Boulevard, three days before Christmas in 2023, when he hit Tucker’s vehicle so hard that mechanical extrication was required.
Two months after the incident, Johnson, then 18, was charged by Christian County Sheriff’s deputies after he assaulted a family member on Pembroke Road — following a disagreement over a cell phone that belonged to his great-grandmother.
After damaging the phone, he threw a rock that hit a family member in the head, and follow more investigation, it was discovered he stole two of his grandfather’s firearms to support a narcotics habit.
According to Adrian’s obituary, Ecclesiastes 12 was his favorite scripture.
Its 14 verses feel prescient.
1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:
3 In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,
4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;
5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:
6 Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.
7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
8 Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher; all is vanity.
9 And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
10 The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.
11 The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
12 And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
14 For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
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