Bodycam shows man pardoned by Bevin confessing to strangling woman

CINCINNATI (WXIX) - Newly released bodycam footage shows a Kentucky man pardoned by former Gov. Matt Bevin confess to strangling a woman.

Joheim Bandy on Monday pleaded guilty before a Kenton County judge to charges of strangulation, domestic violence and assault.

“This is definitely someone we’re afraid of,” Kenton County Commonwealth’s Attorney Rob Sanders told FOX19 last December.

A Covington police officer’s bodycam footage shows the moments in June 2022 after Bandy was shot by the woman he admitted Monday to strangling.

“He tried to beat the s*** out of me, and I shot him with his own gun,” the woman tells the police officer.

Bandy appears to confess to the officer, according to the footage.

“We got into an argument and, I can’t lie, I choked her,” he says. “I choked her, and she grabbed my gun.”

He appears to confess again at the hospital, saying the incident was his fault, the footage shows.

“I shouldn’t have put my hands on that woman, constantly and constantly and constantly,” he says. “So, she had the whole right under the law to defend herself when somebody is beating on her. [...]And she didn’t do nothing to me except to shoot me for defending herself.”

Bevin pardoned Bandy and other convicted felons on the governor’s way out of office in 2019. Bandy had been sentenced to 13 years on an assault and robbery conviction.

“It was a very violent robbery where he shot a man in the chest,” Sanders said Monday.

Bandy had only served around a year of his sentence before the pardon.

“He is the person that Governor Bevin said had changed his ways and was going to do great things with his life,” Sanders said.

Shortly after Bandy’s release, officers began to receive reports of strangulations in the City Heights neighborhood. Sanders previously told FOX19 those reports came in faster than officers could find him.

“Bandy was apparently engaged in romantic relationships with a number of different women all within the City Heights housing project and managed to strangle at least three of them, that we know of,” Sanders said.

Bandy was found guilty in the first of those three strangulation trials last December after a neighbor allegedly saw him attacking a young mother.

“Mr. Bandy should’ve been in prison,” Sanders said. “He should’ve never been on the streets to commit these crimes.

Bandy’s final sentencing is April 4. Sanders is recommending seven years.

He received a five-year sentence in the strangulation case last December. Sanders says Bandy will serve the sentences consecutively.

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