Volume 1, Issue 2
January Extra 1
Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death
Penalty
P.O. Box 3092 Louisville Kentucky 40201-
3092
(502) 585-2895 email:
kcadp@earthlink.net website:
www.kcadp.org
Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
P. O. Box 3092
Louisville, Kentucky 40201-3092
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
Louisville, KY
Permit No. 110
CORRECTION
In the December issue of Abolition Now!, the email address for the Coalition was incorrect. The correct address
is kcadp@earthlink.net.
House Judiciary Committee Members
Gross Lindsay, Chair; John Vincent, VC; Rob Wilkey*, VC; Brent Yonts, VC; Paul Bather*; Kevin
Bratcher; Perry Clark; Jesse Crenshaw; Joseph Fischer; Charles Geveden; Bob Heleringer*; Jeff
Hoover; Frank Rasche; Arnold Simpson*; John Will Stacy; Kathy Stein*; Gary Tapp.
Senate Judiciary Committee Members
Robert Stivers, Chair; Katie Stine, VC; Dick Adams; Lindy Casebier; Ray Jones; Marshall Long*;
Gerald Neal*; R. J. Palmer; Elizabeth Tori; Jack Westwood; David Williams;
Selected House and Senate Leaders
Jody Richards—House Speaker
Jim Callahan—House Majority Caucus Chair
Joe Barrows—House Majority Whip
Dan Kelly—Senate Majority Floor Leader
Charlie Borders—Senate Majority Caucus Chair
Elizabeth Tori—Senate Majority Whip
*Co-sponsors of Juvenile Bills
Bold = Republicans
Contact your legislators
Leave a toll-free message for a legislator
1-800-372-7181; TTY—1-800-896-0305
Anon-toll free call to reach legislators
1-502-564-8100 and ask by name
General Assembly Website
www.lrc.state.ky.us
Here you can find out your legislators’ home phone numbers and reach them on weekends. You can
also find out about bills of interest to you, what committees they are in, and other valuable information.
Legislation draws
broad support
Sen. Gerald Neal and Rep. Robin Webb have introduced companion bills, SB 127 and HB 447,
which will ban the death penalty for 16— and 17-year old children convicted of capital murder.
Each bill has several co-sponsors. In the Senate, Senators Blevins, Long, Miller, Pendleton,
Scorsone, and Johnny Ray Turner are helping. In the House, Representatives Feeley, Adams,
Bather, Brinkman, Burch, Crimm, Graham, Heleringer, Marzian, Meeks, Simpson, Stein, Wayne,
Westrom, and Wilkey have signed on. Constituents can call other lawmakers and encourage them
to co-sponsor.
Though the bill bans the death penalty, the remaining penalties hold young people accountable
if they commit a capital murder. Juries can impose one of three penalties: Life in prison; life
without parole for 25 years; or a term of up to 70 years in prison. A person serving 70 years in
prison for a violent crime must serve 59.5 years before seeing the parole board. A 16-year old
child would be over 75 years old before meeting the parole board. This is a message KCADP
urges its members to communicate when talking to others about these two bills.
The next step in passing SB 127 and HB 447 is convincing the chairpersons of the two
Judiciary Committees to give these bills a hearing and allow Committee members to vote for
them. For the past week KCADP members have visited Frankfort and urged Senator Stivers to
give SB 127 a hearing. They also talked to their own elected representatives and received
commitments from them to vote FOR this legislation. Please let us know if you want to visit
Frankfort by calling Mary or Kaye at (502) 585-2895 or emailing them at kcadp@earthlink.net.
On the House side, Rep. Greg Stumbo has promised Rep. Webb that he will help her get a
hearing from Rep. Gross Lindsay. House Speaker Jody Richards said he is not opposed to the
concept of ending the death penalty for juveniles.
In the column on the left are the names of Committee members and key legislative leaders.
These people listen to others and check their messages regularly. Opponents of this legislation
will try to kill these bills, so it is important that you do all you can to make sure your elected
representatives know how you feel about this matter.
Your voice is important and lawmakers respond to it when you call.
The message is simple: the State should not execute juveniles. Support HB 447 and SB 127
and urge they receive a hearing in Committee. Contacting your representatives NOW is very
important, especially if one of them serves on a Judiciary committee.
Visit the LEGISLATION page of www.kcadp.org for more information about these and other
KCADP supported bills.
Yes! | want to help abolish the death penalty in Kentucky.
Sign me up for the following:
Membership
$15/year
.. $25/year
$25/year
OLimited Income. .$5/year
Volunteer
[Invite a speaker to my place of worship
[Visit legislator with campaign coordinator
(Recruit new members
(Write letters to editor of local newspaper
[Join the speakers bureau. We train
[Be part of a phone tree for 2002.
Name
Address
City. Zip
Phone
Mail to KCADP, PO BOX 3092, Louisville, Kentucky, 40201-3092
VISIT WWW.KCADP.ORG
Representative Jim Wayne introduces bill to
protect mentally retarded persons; abolition
bill coming soon
Representative Jim Wayne introduced HB 407 which seeks to protect death row inmates who may have
mental retardation and who were on Kentucky’s death row before July 13, 1990.
In 1990, Governor Wallace Wilkinson signed into law a bill that banned the death penalty for mentally
retarded persons whose trials began after July 13, 1990.
This legislation did not protect those already on death row because officials with the Department of
Corrections wrote the Legislative Research Commission and Senator Danny Meyer, who sponsored the
bill, and indicated that no one on death row at that time was mentally retarded.
Now it appears that these officials were mistaken. David Skaggs was on death row until October 1999
when a federal court overturned his death sentence and ordered a new sentencing trial. His lawyers contend
that he is mentally retarded.
Wayne’s bill, if passed, would allow Skaggs to have a hearing and attempt to prove that he is actually
mentally retarded. He would have to meet the same strict definition that defendants have had to meet since
July 1990.
Skaggs will have to show that his I.Q. measures 70 or below and that his condition existed prior to the
age of 18. Prosecutors would have the opportunity to challenge the evidence that the defense presents.
HB 407 simply allows someone on death row before July 13, 1990 the same protection from execution
that is afforded mentally retarded persons after that date. No mentally retarded person should be executed
because officials with the Department of Corrections mistakenly reported about their condition.
Representative Tom Burch will soon file a bill to end the use of the death penalty in Kentucky.
If convicted of capital murder, the jury still has several options including imposing the punishment of
life without benefit of parole. This became a sentencing option in July 1998. A majority of Kentuckians
(54%) prefer this sentence over death. In fact, in December 1999, less than one-third (31%) of Kentuckians
chose the death penalty when they were presented with both penalty options.
Did you know that the University of Kentucky, in its Spring 2000 poll, found that 79.5% of voting
age Kentuckians prefer a sentence other than death for 16— and 17-year old defendants
convicted of capital murder? Tell that to your state legislators when you contact them.
Senator Gerald Neal has introduced SB 85 which would impose a two-year moratorium
on executions while the Kentucky Criminal Justice Council carries out its study of the
capital sentencing process in Kentucky. During this time, prosecutors can continue to
seek the death penalty at trial, though no executions may take place.
SB 85 calls for two-year moratorium
