The Kentucky Supreme Court decided Thursday that Western and the Student Life Foundation are not responsible in a wrongful death lawsuit involving a freshman killed on campus in 2003.

The court’s 6-0 decision upheld a Court of Appeals’ decision that Western was immune and reversed an appeals’ decision that Western’s Student Life Foundation was not immune.

Pellville freshman Melissa “Katie” Autry was raped, sodomized and set on fire in her Poland Hall dorm room May 4, 2003, after returning from a party at the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house. She died from third-degree burns May 7 at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville.

Western has immunity from this lawsuit because it is a governmental agency. The Student Life Foundation has qualified immunity from this lawsuit, meaning it performed a service for a governmental agency that the agency would have done itself, according to the Supreme Court ruling.

Justice John D. Minton Jr. was not present for the decision.

Ben Crocker, attorney for the Autry estate, said he will pursue the case in the Board of Claims, where lawsuits against immune governmental agencies are often handled.

Western General Counsel Deborah Wilkins said there must be negligence proven on Western’s part for the lawsuit in the Board of Claims to be successful.

“I don’t think we’re negligent in this matter,” she said.

The Warren County Circuit Court dismissed the claims against Western, its employees in their official capacity and Western’s Student Life Foundation. The Court of Appeals affirmed circuit court’s dismissal of Western and its employees in their official capacity, but reversed the dismissal of the Student Life Foundation, according to the Supreme Court’s ruling.

The individual employees who were sued were Aubrey Livingston, Lynne Allison Todd, Aja Hendrix, Alex Kuehne and Sandra Hess.

A lawsuit was filed against the Pi Kappa Alpha frateity, but it remains in circuit court to allow time for the Supreme Court to rule on the other groups that were sued, Wilkins said. The fraternity is not a governmental organization, so it does not have immunity, she said.

Greg Stivers, the attorney representing Western, said immunity of governmental groups is important, and he’s glad the Supreme Court upheld that idea.

Charles English, attorney for the Student Life Foundation, said the court’s ruling was appropriate.

“The court defined the law as we thought it was,” he said.

Crocker said he was disappointed with the decision.

“I represented this family through some real hard times,” Crocker said. “They lost an important family member.”

Stephen Soules of Scottsville pleaded guilty to Autry’s murder on March 21, 2005. Under a plea agreement, Soules received life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Lucas Goodrum of Scottsville was found not guilty of Autry’s murder on March 21, 2005.

Reach Alex Fontana at news@wkuherald.com.