Crime at a high level, with Kentucky judge dismissing cases (10)
I believe the answer is:
skyjacking
'crime at a high level' is the definition.
(term for highjacking a plane)
'kentucky judge dismissing cases' is the wordplay.
'kentucky' becomes 'ky'.
'judge' becomes 'j' (abbreviation for judge).
'dismissing' becomes 'sacking' ('sack' can be a synonym of 'dismiss').
'cases' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'ky'+'j'='kyj'
'kyj' placed into 'sacking' is 'SKYJACKING'.
'with' is the link.
(Another definition for skyjacking that I've seen is " Act of illegally diverting an aircraft".)