Critics of the law have argued that it is unnecessary because juries are already allowed to weigh evidence of mental illness into their verdict decisions. However, studies have shown that jurors who survive the jury selection process are much less likely to provide evidence of an accused`s mental illness. Republican Senate Majority Leader Damon Thayer, a supporter of the death penalty, dismissed the measure as a “slippery slope toward abolishing the death penalty.” The Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville houses all male death row inmates in Kentucky. [7] Women sentenced to death are housed at the Kentucky Correctional Institute for Women in unincorporated Shelby County, near Pewee Valley. All executions take place at Kentucky State Penitentiary. [8] Some of these aggravating factors apply to the offences of armed robbery and kidnapping. However, the death penalty for these crimes is no longer allowed, as they have been declared unconstitutional since Kennedy v. Louisiana of the U.S. Supreme Court in 2008.
HB 269 prohibits the death penalty for defendants who have previously been diagnosed with four serious mental disorders: schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and/or delusional disorder. Unlike a similar measure passed in Ohio in January 2021, Kentucky`s law would not apply to those who have already been sentenced to death. Despite the law`s limitations, its passage was historic, supporters said. Bruce Schreiner, Kentucky lawmakers vote to limit the death penalty, Associated Press, March 25, 2022; Bode Brooks, Kentucky Senate passes bill to prevent death penalty for the mentally ill, Fox 56 News, March 25, 2022. Among the Kentucky inmates sentenced to death is Ralph Baze, who unsuccessfully challenged Kentucky`s lethal injection protocol in the U.S. Supreme Court in Baze v. 2008. Rees, which caused the suspension of all executions throughout the United States between September 2007 and April 2008. Baze was sentenced to death in 1992 for the murder of Powell County Sheriff Steve Bennett and his deputy, Arthur Briscoe. The state is now trying to pass legislation that would raise the minimum age for offenders facing the death penalty to 21 at the time of their crimes.
[5] Although this is a legal sanction, there have been no executions in Kentucky since 2008 and only three since 1976. The most recent execution was against Marco Allen Chapman, who was executed for two murders. [1] Being charged with a crime punishable by death is a frightening prospect. If you or a loved one is charged with serious crimes, such as murder, you should immediately speak to an experienced Kentucky criminal defense attorney or your public defense attorney. Similar bills have been introduced in legislatures in at least ten other states applying the death penalty since 2017. In addition to Ohio, bills with bipartisan support have been introduced in Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. The South Dakota bill passed the Senate but failed in the House of Representatives. The Colorado and Virginia bills became controversial when lawmakers in those states abolished the death penalty. Research consistently shows that race, especially the victim, plays an important role in sentencing and sentencing people of color in the United States. Kentucky was the first state to pass legislation to address this issue. The racial justice law allows judges to consider and determine whether race was the basis for the decision to seek or impose the death penalty, usually because it was a major factor in that decision.
So far, other Kentucky states have not followed their progressive example. In 1974, two years after Furman v. Georgia, Kentucky has enacted a new death penalty law, Ky. Section 532.030(1) (1974), entered into force January 1, 1975. The law provided for a mandatory death penalty for those convicted of murder. The death sentences of the three prisoners sentenced to death under this law were overturned when the U.S. Supreme Court declared mandatory death sentences unconstitutional on July 2, 1976. Under the provisions of the law, defendants who had active symptoms and a documented diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and/or delusional disorder at the time of the offense would no longer face the death penalty. Defendants who wish to prevent prosecution punishable by death under the law must file an application with the court of first instance at least 120 days before their scheduled trial date. If the court finds that the defendant meets the requirements of the law, the case is transferred to non-capital proceedings. Unlike a similar measure passed in Ohio in 2021, Kentucky law would not apply to those who have already been sentenced to death. Kentucky passed the Racial Justice Act on February 5, 1998, which allowed judges to consider whether racial bias played a role in the decision to seek or impose the death penalty.
The death penalty is the harshest punishment for crimes committed in Kentucky. In general, the death penalty is reserved for cases where an adult murders another person and there are no mitigating circumstances (such as self-defence, the murder was committed in the “fire of passion”, the murder of a long-term offender, etc.). Kentucky law requires at least one aggravating circumstance (proof of malice, such as a previous conviction for murder, homicide during rape, sodomy or arson, kidnapping or murder of a police officer on duty, etc.) before the death penalty or life imprisonment can be imposed. Juries may recommend that an accused be sentenced to death, life imprisonment without parole or probation, or life imprisonment without parole until he or she serves a 25-year sentence. Similar bills have been considered by other state legislators in recent years. In 2021, Ohio banned the death penalty for defendants who were seriously mentally ill at the time of the offense. During this term, Republican lawmakers in Florida, South Dakota and Tennessee introduced bills banning the execution of people with serious mental illness. Florida`s bills died in committee. The South Dakota bill passed the Senate by a vote of 21 to 14, but failed in the House of Representatives by a vote of 25 to 43.
Tennessee`s bills have not progressed as of March 28. In a special session in December 1976, the Kentucky legislature repealed the mandatory death penalty law and enacted the current Commonwealth Death Penalty Act, which came into effect on December 22, 1976. Kevin Stanford is one of three juvenile offenders sentenced to death in Kentucky since the Commonwealth reintroduced the death penalty in 1975. The Stanford case was convicted in January 1981 of murder committed at the age of 17 and went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which – by a vote of 5 to 4 – upheld the use of the death penalty against offenders aged 16 or 17. In 2003, Governor Paul Patton commuted Stanford`s death sentence to life in prison without parole.