Kentucky Laws
and
Procedure for Execution
Minimum Age for the Application of the Death Penalty
In order to be eligible for execution, Kentucky offenders must have been at least 16 at the time of the offense (minimum age for execution as required by Stanford v. Kentucky)
Kentucky and Mental Retardation
Kentucky statutorily forbids the execution of the mentally retarded.
Kentucky's Means of Execution
Those inmates sentenced before March 31, 1998 will be given the choice between lethal injection and electrocution.
Those inmates sentenced after March 31, 1998 will be executed by lethal injection.
Kentucky's Procedure for Pardons or Granting Clemency
The Governor has the sole authority to commute a death sentence to a term of life without parole.
Death Row Statistics
According to Death Row, U.S.A., since Gregg and the reinstatement of the death penalty in the US, there have been two executions in Kentucky; both inmates were White offenders with White victims. Kentucky has not executed a juvenile offender since reinstatement of the death penalty in 1976. Therefore, if Kevin Stanford, Kentucky's only juvenile death row offender, is executed he will be the first juvenile execution since Gregg
As of December 8, 2003, Kentucky has 37 death row inmates.
8 African-American inmates
28 White inmates
1 Latino
1 woman
0 foreign nationals reported
0 juvenile (Kevin Stanford)
On December 8, 2003, Outgoing Governor Paul Patton commuted the sentence of Kevin Stanford to life in prison. Please add the former sentence and link to appropriate article in Stanford overview.
On August 1, 2002, Larry Osbourne's conviction and death sentence was
overturned by the Kentucky Supreme Court. At the time of the murder,
Osbourne was seventeen.
Other Information
Kentucky's Governor Paul Patton makes statement regarding the juvenile death penalty.
FRANKFORT, Ky. -- Gov. Paul Patton announced yesterday that he would support legislation that would outlaw the execution of people who committed capital crimes before their 18th birthday.
The announcement came as death-penalty foes picked up their efforts to do away with or scale back the death penalty in Kentucky, outlining their plans for the 2002 General Assembly at a meeting yesterday of the House and Senate Joint Committee on Judiciary.
Foes of capital punishment plan to attack several issues, but some said yesterday -- before Patton's announcement -- that a bill prohibiting the execution of those who commit capital crimes as juveniles had the best chance of passage. Kentucky's law complies with a U.S. Supreme Court decision that sets the minimum age for execution at age 16.
Enactment of such a law could save the life of Kevin Stanford of Louisville, who was convicted in the 1981 rape and murder of gas station attendant Baerbel Poore. Stanford was 17 years and 4 months old at the time of the murder.
But Kenton Smith, the commonwealth's attorney for Meade, Grayson and Breckinridge counties, told the committee that although he has not always sought the death penalty for youths accused of capital crimes, the option helps in arranging pleas and is sometimes warranted.
''The death penalty is for cases that cry out for it,'' he said. ''It's not for every case.''
But Patton said through Denis Fleming, his general counsel, he doesn't believe all minors are capable of making such life-or death decisions. ''He opposes that provision on the grounds that he questions whether 16 or 17-year-olds are capable of understanding the consequences of their actions,'' Fleming said.
(Louisville Courier-Journal, 10/17/02)
kentucky's Race Statute
532.300 PROHIBITION AGAINST DEATH SENTENCE BEING SOUGHT OR GIVEN ON THE BASIS OF RACE; PROCEDURES FOR DEALING WITH CLAIMS
(1) No person shall be subject to or given a sentence of death that was sought on the basis of race.
(2) A finding that race was the basis of the decision to seek a death sentence may be established if the court finds that race was a significant factor in decisions to seek the sentence of death in the Commonwealth at the time the death sentence was sought.
(3) Evidence relevant to establish a finding that race was the basis of the decision to seek a death sentence may include statistical evidence or other evidence, or both, that death sentences were sought significantly more frequently:
(a) Upon persons of one race than upon persons of another race; or
(b) As punishment for capital offenses against persons of one race than as punishment for capital offenses against persons of another race.
(4) The defendant shall state with particularity how the evidence supports a claim that racial considerations played a significant part in the decision to seek a death sentence in his or her case. The claim shall be raised by the defendant at the pre-trial conference. The court shall schedule a hearing on the claim and shall prescribe a time for the submission of evidence by both parties. If the court finds that race was the basis of the decision to seek the death sentence, the court shall order that a death sentence shall not be sought.
(5) The defendant has the burden of proving by clear and convincing evidence that race was the basis of the decision to seek the death penalty. The Commonwealth may offer evidence in rebuttal of the claims or evidence of the defendant.
While this statute is a noble attempt to address the issues of race, prosecutorial discretion and the death penalty, many defense attorneys have argued that the statute in fact creates additional problems, asserting that in the course of attempting to appear unprejudiced, the death penalty will be sought against White offenders in an effort to obtain statistics that reflect impartiality.
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