KCADP
Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
Why do we kill people
who kill people
to show that killing
people is wrong.
NEWSLETTER NO. 15
JUNE 1992
RACE AND DEATH PENALTY STUDY
ORDERED BY 1992 GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The Justice Cabinet and the Department of Public Advocacy
shall design and conduct a study of racial bias as a factor in
capital sentencing, and shall report their findings to the
Legislative Research Commission by September 1, 1993.
The sentence above, now part of Senate Bill 8, signed by
Governor Brereton Jones on April 13, 1992, is all that remains
of Senate Bill 225 introduced by State Senator Gerald Neal at
the request of Ken Dupre, Executive Director of the Catholic
Conference of Kentucky (CCK), a body made up of the Catholic
Bishops of Louisville, Covington, Owensboro, and Lexington.
Nevertheless, it is still a significant act of legislation since this
required study now causes the issue of race in capital sentencing
to be looked
into by the
State itself. [waite |
ie in Lwaire |
1991, the CCK
appointed a
Death Penalty
subcommittee i
to its Pro-Life |
Committee. :
Members |
included Ed j
Monahan, an ig
attorney with zl
vast experi-
ence in death
penalty work,
Rev. Patrick
Delahanty,
Chair of the.
Kentucky
Coalition to
Abolish the
Death Fenalty,
Sr. Dorothy Schuette, a pastoral associate at Our Mother of
God parish in Covington, Sandy McCauley, Respect Life
Director in the Archdiocese of Louisville, and Laura Robinson,
a former employee of the Owensboro Diocese. Staff to this
subcommittee was Jane Chiles of the Catholic Conference.
In June 1984, the CCK issued a challenging pastoral letter,
its first pastoral letter, condemning the use of capital punish-
ment and calling for its abolition. In the past seven years the
Mageelie=
Tie abate NSSTLTON
Reproduced courtesy of Doug Marlette; The Atlanta Constitution
Conference had supported legislation proposed by others to
limit the applicability of the death penalty. The Conference now
wanted to ensure that the Bishops’ teaching on the issue
received proper emphasis and found its way into educational
programs in Catholic schools and parishes. This Death Penalty
subcommittee met to make recommendations to the Pro-Life
Committee related to curriculum and educational materials
available for use. Secondarily, it made recommendations
regarding legislative action the Bishops might take to counter
the use of the death penalty. Neither the subcommittee nor the
Bishops are under any illusion that capital punishment can be
abolished in Kentucky at this time, though they continue to
maintain that
it should be
abolished and
that life with-
out parole
should be the
maximum
punishment
for capital
crimes.
At oa
meeting held
on May 10,
1991, this
subcommittee
entertained a
report that
focused on
three potential
issues for
submission to
the General
Assembly: a
Kentucky
version of the Racial Justice Act if Congress failed to pass one;
a life without parole bill that included abolition of the death
penalty; and a Joint Resolution requiring the Legislative
Research Commission to perform a real cost analysis of the
death penalty.
With abolition unlikely, the subcommittee reasoned that
the punishment must be as fairly applied as possible and
decided to pursue passage of a Kentucky Racial Justice Act. It
Page 2
June 1992
was already clear from studies conducted by Dr. Gennaro Vito
and Dr. Thomas Keil, professors at the University of Louisville,
that race is a factor in death sentencing in Kentucky. It was also
known that statewide opinion-gathering research by the Urban
Research Center at U of L had found that Kentuckians over-
whelmingly supported a statement demanding a guarantee of
racial non-bias in capital sentencing. Ninety-two percent claimed
to want this guarantee in results of the research reported in
December, 1989. With this information, the Pro-Life committee
agreed with the recommendation and work on the bill began.
By July 12, 1991, a draft of the Kentucky Racial Justice Act
was ready for review. At the Death Penalty subcommittee
meeting that day, the draft was approved and the subcommittee
Voted to recommend that the Pro-Life committee ask Kentucky’s
Roman Catholic Bishops to support this legislation.
The Pro-Life committee endorsed the proposal and the
Bishops agreed.
At the subcommittee’s January 10, 1992, meeting, Jane
Chiles reported that Senator Gerald Neal was considering
sponsoring of the Racial Justice Act. Subcommittee members
then suggested names of other organizations which might be
supportive: Amnesty International, the ACLU (Kentucky), the
Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, the Kentucky
Council of Churches, the NAACP the NAACP Ministerial
Coalition, various peace and justice groups, as well as some
labor and civic organizations. Ultimately, many of these groups
and their individual members did become active in attempts to
pass the legislation.
Five weeks later, February 19, 1992, Senate Bill 225 was
introduced. Called the Kentucky Racial Justice Act, the bill’s
inference that race was a factor with clear and convincing
evidence.
As anticipated, SB 225 was sent to the Senate Judiciary
Committee chaired by Senator Kelsey Friend. The committee
has nine members, thus requiring at least 5 votes to move a bill
to the Senate fioor. These five votes are needed even when
members are absent. This committee also has a reputation for
letting bills die because the chairman will not present them for
consideration. (There was a lawsuit filed in Jate March, 1992,
challenging the committee system as a result of the failure of
this committee to act on some other legislative matters.)
In speaking to committee members, Conference staff
discovered that Senator Walter Baker had some real difficulty
with the bill, as did Senator David Karem. It became quite clear
that without the support of a least of these Senators the bill
would not clear the committee. Senator Neal agreed to the
possibility of accepting a committee substitute that called for a
study by the Justice Department and the Department for Public
Advocacy. He informed Senator Friend that a committee
substitute was possible and had one drafted should the bill
teceive a hearing in committee.
After two weeks, Fr. Delahanty and Senator Neal separate-
ly approached Senator Friend about the possibility of giving the
bill a hearing in committee. On the afternoon of March 10, it
was still not certain it would receive a hearing. However, the
very next day, SB 225 suddenly appears on the agenda for that
day’s noon meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator
Neal and Fr. Delahanty, who had arrived in Frankfort with no
knowledge that the bill was scheduled for a hearing, took the
microphones when Senator Friend called the bill. Senator Neal
offered the committee
HANG THE
| /, EEERS
In the trial of William Andrews, a juror, eating lunch ina separate dining room, presented the bailiff
with a drawing on a napkin. Who made the drawing or how many jurors saw it is unknown, although
the bailiff informed the court: “some of the jurors” had asked him “what the court may do about this.”
Justice Thurgood Marshall dissented, “Was it one (or more) of petitioner's jurors who drew a black
man hanging on a gallows and attached the inscription, ‘Hang the Niggers"? How many other jurors
saw the incendiary drawing before it was turned over to the bailiff? Might it have had any effect on the
deliberations? ...It is conscience-shocking that all three levels of the federal judiciary are willing to send
petitioner to his death without so much as investigating these serious allegations at an evidentiary
hearing. Not only is this less process than due; it is no process at all.”
substitute, which merely
called for a study of race
and capital sentencing,
not for any remedy for
those who may have
been victims of discrimi-
nation by the State.
Even the substi-
tute, however, met op-
position. Both Senator
David Williams and
Senator Baker raised
questions about the
value of a study, the
need for the study, and
what will be the results.
Senator Charlie Berger
also questioned its pur-
pose. Fortunately, Sena-
tors Karem, Michael
Moloney, and Joe Meyer
maintained their sup-
‘|
pees
primary purpose was set out in SECTION 2, (1): “No person
shall be put to death under color of state law in the execution
of a sentence which was imposed based on race.” The bill
allowed for the use of statistical evidence in establishing that
trace was the basis of a death sentence and required that the
sentence not be carried out unless the state could rebut the
port. Senator Williams
even suggested that the study would result in the death of
capital punishment in the State when he attacked Fr. Delahanty
for being an abolitionist. Senator Friend, sensing that no further
debate was necessary, called for the vote. The bill failed to clear
the committee because the vote resulted in a tie: 4 - 4. Senators
Friend, Karem, Meyer, and Moloney supported; Senators Baker,
June 1992
Page 3
Berger, Jeff Green, and Williams opposed. Senator Tim Philpot,
the ninth member, was attending his father’s funeral.
Earlier in the session, a Seattle attorney named Tim Ford
who represents aa African-American defendant in Utah named
William Andrews, sent a letter to each member of the Senate
Judiciary Committee, all members holding leadership positions,
Governor Jones and Lt. Gov. Paul Patton.
Fortunately, Republican Whip Tom Buford was deeply
moved by the letter and a drawing with the words “Hang the
niggers” and called Ford to say he would vote for the bill if it
cleared the committee. Supporters informed Senator Buford of
the tie vote. Senator Buford said he was certain Senator Phitpot
would have supported the measure and suggested asking
Senator Friend to bring it up on the agenda a second time.
Senator Neal did ask and the bill appeared on the agenda for
Wednesday, March 18. During the interim Senator Williams
received a number of phone calis requesting that he reconsider
his position. He did. In this second meeting, he did not speak or
vote against SB 225. As expected Senator Philpot voted favor-
ably and the bill advanced to the Senate floor. On March 20,
Senator Williams joined the majority in the nearly unanimous
support for the bill’s passage. Only Senator Berger voted nay.
By now time was running out. For the bill to clear the
House Judiciary Committee, it needed to be heard at its next
meeting, March 24. But Chairman Louis Johnson refused to
have the three day posting rule waived (this is a rule in the
House that there be a three day notice that a bill is to be heard
in committee).
Apparenily there was some expectation the bill would be
heard that day. John Stewart, assistant Commonwealth Attor-
ney, employed by Jefferson County Commonwealth Attorney,
Ernie Jasmine, was there on March 24 and said he was prepared
to speak against SB 225. He did not explain his motivation for
opposition to a bill whose purpose is to discover if there is racial
bias in capital sentencing in Kentucky.
Happily, on the agenda that day was Senate Bill 8, an Act
relating to reporting of bias related conduct, also introduced by
Senator Neal. It required training of law enforcement personnel
so that offenses which appear to be caused as a result of race,
color, religion, sex or national origin will be seen as such and
reported. It further required that the Justice Cabinet annually
report the number of times such crimes seem to occur.
Senate Bill 8 easily passed out of committee and headed
for a vote on the House floor. Supporters of SB 225 saw an
opportunity here: finding a House member to offer a simple
floor amendment which would expand SB 8 to include a section
that required the Justice Cabinet and the Department of Public
Advocacy to “conduct a study of racial bias as a factor in capital
sentencing” and report their findings to the General Assembly
before the 1994 session.
State Representative Leonard Gray agreed to file the
amendment and did so on March 25.
On March 27, Representative Gray spoke for the amend-
ment when SB 8 was called up and it passed unanimously on
voice vote. Then SB 8 was adopted unanimously in a roll call
vote.
Senate Bill 8 was returned to the Senate which concurred
with the new language on March 31.
Governor Jones signed the bill on Monday, April 13, two
days before the 1992 General Assembly adjourned. The law is
effective July, 1992. Then the Justice Cabinet and Department
of Public Advocacy can begin work on the study.
KCADP members played an active role in supporting passage of SB 225. Phone calls, letters, and visits to lawmakers
all helped to get the bill out of the Senate Judiciary Committee for a vote on the Senate floor. Your continued financial
support is also important. Please check your mailing label for an expiration date. If expired, please renew your
membership now. All members: please make a note of the new mailing address. See page 4, for a report on another
project needing your participation. Keep up the good work.
MEMBERSHIP FORM - MAIL TO KCADP 2911 South 4th Street, Louisville, KY 40208.
Type of Membership: (] Individual: $10 [] Couple: $15 [] Organization: $25 [] Student/Senior (over 60): $5
Name Phone ( )
Address KY Zip
My State Senator is
My State Representative is
My Representative in Congress is
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Page 4
June 1992
BOARD NOTES
Welcome to new Board members:
Deborah Mauldin, Donna Boyce, Kelly
Gleason, Jan Phillips. And thank you to
Ed Stieritz, Ed Heeg, and Bernie Halvor-
sen for their time and ideas.
The national office has developed
materials for a STOP IT campaign. Board
members have received these packets and
will make information available to chapter
members. Included are suggested questions
and comments members can use to educate
lawmakers and candidates for public office,
as well as the general public.
Not ail survivors of murder victims
support executions. Bill Pelke, whose
grandmother was murdered by former
death row inmate Paula Cooper, heads up
the Murder Victims’ Families for Recon-
ciliation organization. From June 4-20,
1993, this group plans to take their mes-
sage to the people of Indiana. KCADP
has agreed to participate when the march-
ers visit Southern Indiana by hosting an
event in Louisville in mid-June, 1993.
Details will be announced when speakers,
date and time are known.
KCADP ORGANIZES CANDLELIGHT VIGIL
As the people of Virginia prepared to kill Roger Coleman, a man whose guilt
was seriously questioned, death penalty abolitionists and proponents alike were
stunned.
KCADP chairperson, Pat Delahanty, called a special meeting in Louisville on
Monday, May 18th to plan a response to the inevitable execution. By this time
Govemor Wilder had refused clemency and no one reasonably expects the courts to
provide relief to death row inmates. ©
Individual members and organizational representatives decided to hold a
candlelight vigil and prayer service at 9:30 pm on May 20th since the original time for
the execution was 10:00 pm. Members accepted various tasks and work began
Tuesday morning.
Press reports indicated nearly 100 persons attended and statements were made
by the Kentucky Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, the Catholic
Conference of Kentucky, and the NAACP Interdenominational Ministerial Coalition.
A letter from Pope John Paul IJ to Governor Wilder, asking for clemency, was also
read.
Other participating groups included Amnesty International, the American Civil
Liberty Union, the Kentucky Council of Churches, the Council on Peacemaking and
Religion, the Rainbow Coalition, the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Pax Christi, as well
as various agencies of the Archdiocese of Louisville and several orders of nuns.
Prayers were offered for murder victims and their families, as well as the
condemned and their families.
“This case causes us to renew our call to our political leaders to abolish the use
of capital punishment,” said the Catholic Conference statement, “and to enact other
measures, short of abolition, to ensure that our state will never execute someone who
may be innocent.”
The vigil was held in a park across the street from the Hall of Justice where
defendants charged with capital crimes in Jefferson County are tried.
In the Nation
‘Texas set two records recently, both
violent. The people of Texas have now
Killed 50 inmates since the death penalty
was reinstated. And 1991 was the most
violent in Texas history. Violent crime was
up 12.7%. Homicides were up 11%, a
record high of 2,651 people murdered.
Is the collective murder of people by
the State of Texas teaching its citizens
that it’s o.k. to privately kill people?
On Marcli 23, 1992, the Death Pen-
alty Information Center released a major
report on prosecutorial misconduct. The
report details instances in which police
abuse led to false confessions that pros-
ecutors withheld from the defense; the
Horton case in Georgia and the Brandley
case in Texas where race was the deciding
factor in both sentenced to death (both
cases overturned for this reason); undis-
closed deals cut between prosecutors and
co-defendants and jailhouse snitches.
An overwhelming majority of Ken-
tuckians favor review of decisions to seek
death. Why not give ’em what they want?
Please check your mailing label. If there is no date,
please fill out the enclosed membership form and return
it. If there is a date prior to 05/31/92, it is time to renew
your membership. Note the new address below.
KENTUCKY COALITION
TO ABOLISH THE DEATH PENALTY Non-Profit Org.
2911 SOUTH 4TH STREE’ ee
LOUISVILLE, RENTUCEY, 40208 Louisville, KY
Permit No. 110
