David Dooley Sentenced To Life For Murdering Co-Worker

Thursday, November 20, 2014 at 6:28 AM

By Mike Perleberg

David Dooley was sentenced to life in prison plus five years in Boone Circuit Court on Wednesday for the 2012 murder of Michelle Mockbee.

(Burlington, Ky.) - Life in prison has been ordered for a Burlington man convicted of murdering a co-worker at a Florence business.

Last month, a Boone County jury convicted David Dooley of murdering Michelle Mockbee, 42, at Thermo Fisher Scientific on May 29, 2012. He was also convicted of tampering with evidence. Jurors recommended a sentence of life in prison following the trial. On Wednesday, the judge followed through on that recommendation, giving Dooley, now 40, life in prison plus five years for the tampering conviction. Dooley spoke during his sentencing. A he has since his arrest, Dooley continued to maintain his innocence and issued no apologies. “It's totally unfair how I've been treated. I did not kill Michelle Mockbee,” he said. “"I feel railroaded. I’ve been run over in this courtroom. In this very spot someone stood and lied and they got away with it. The courtroom is divided between the people who know I didn’t do it, and the people who think I did.” Mockbee’s family told WCPO-TV after the sentencing hearing that it was difficult not to hear him admit to the crime. “The jury was totally convinced and the judge was totally convinced, so he’s where he should be and hopefully he stays there forever and away from the public so he can never do this to anybody ever again,” Michelle’s husband, David Mockbee, said. The court saga may not be over. Dooley plans to appeal his conviction and has hired an attorney. Dooley was a janitor at the business where Mockbee had gone to work early one morning in the Though a murder weapon was never found and no physical evidence connected him to the murder scene, Dooley was convicted. Prosecutors said the investigation focused on Dooley because of his odd behavior after the murder. Investigators believe he used an industrial tape gun to bludgeon Mockbee to death. The jury took 16 hours of deliberation before delivering the guilty verdicts on October 9. RELATED STORIES: David Dooley Found Guilty Murdering Coworker