which he would receive half. A judge ordered the case moved to Louisville because the alleged crime was committed in Glasgow, in the state's western district. State charges against Jernigan, which included kidnapping and carrying a concealed deadly weapon, were dropped so that the federal extortion charges could take precedence. Over the objection of his legal counsel, the court ordered Jernigan to undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he was insane or mentally incompetent for his own defense. The court-appointed psychiatrist found Jernigan competent to stand trial, and he was released in late May on a $25,000 bond. After his release on bond, Jernigan returned to the room at the Continental Inn in Lexington where he had been living prior to his arrest. On July 18, 1984, Jernigan's son Randy found him dead in the room. An autopsy showed that Jernigan suffered from coronary atherosclerosis, and heart disease was officially listed as the cause of death. Lexington police determined that there was no evidence to suggest foul play. Jernigan's ex-wife continued to pursue Jernigan's case against Wilkinson, but a Fayette County Circuit Court Judge awarded Wilkinson a summary judgment to dismiss the case in 1986. Political life After announcing his plans for the World Coal Center, Wilkinson began attending meetings of the Lexington Urban City Council, where he advocated his fiscally conservative political views. He was an admirer of Ronald Reagan, although he said he wished Reagan was a Democrat like himself. In 1979, Wilkinson became involved with Terry McBrayer's campaign against John Y. Brown Jr. in the Democratic gubernatorial primary. He held a critical fundraiser for Scotty Baesler's 1981 Lexington mayoral campaign, although most of the businessmen in Lexington favored Baesler's opponent. In the 1983 Democratic gubernatorial primary, he served as finance chairman for Harvey Sloane's campaign. When Sloane lost a close race to Lieutenant Governor Martha Layne Collins, Republican nominee Jim Bunning tried to enlist the support of Sloane and his supporters, including Wilkinson. After a month of consideration, however, Wilkinson endorsed the entire Democratic ticket. The following year, he managed former governor Brown's brief senatorial campaign. Already considering running for governor in 1987, Wilkinson had hoped to remove Brown as a potential competitor for that office by helping him get elected to the Senate, but Brown ended his campaign early for health reasons. Through his work in various the campaigns, Wilkinson found that he enjoyed the