House Members List with Notes, ALL, 2016

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Steven

Richard
Gerald

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Kenny
will
Suzanne

Myron

Rudy

Heath
Watkins

Belcher
Imes
Coursey
Miles

Dossett

Interview results and other information

12 - Kaye G and | met with him at the State Fair. He is
open to abolition; he claimed that if he were asked two
years ago he would support abolition, but with a 2-yr
old daughter he is not so sure; this aligns with a
statement publicly made at a Catholic @ the Capitol
event in 2011. Next visit with him should include a
victim family member.

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Met with Kate and Mike on 3/20/14, no results

2013 Catholics at Capitol event; made clear he
supports; murder in neighborhood when he was a child.
Left a strong impression.

Met with Kate and Mike on 3/20/14, no results

Adamantly supported it in a conversation with Dick
Murphy of Owensboro recently (Jan. 2016):
Fr. Pat,

| just go the chance to talk with Rep. Susan Miles
yesterday about his subject. She appears to be strongly
pro- death penalty. She asked when the last execution
occurred and | was not entirely sure, but | indicated
that | thought there had been only three since the
seventies. She said that you can't go much slower than
that; as if there was basically a moratorium of sorts
already on further killing.
I tried to reason with her but no joy.

Blew off Shekinah's attempt to meet with her in Jan
2016

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Dean Schamore 1

Representative Schamore (2/4/15) (mtg lasted
about 30 minutes with Kirk Bloodsworth and
Shekinah Lavalle)--Schamore knew who we were
and had looked up Kirk before we got there. He
had asked someone from the LRC come over and
take a picture with him and Kirk while we were
there. He listened very closely to Kirk’s story and
was visibly interested in the connections between

10 his story and the faulty pieces of KY’s system
addressed by the ABA report. He made several
comments disparaging lawyers and prosecutors
especially. Rep. Schamore had a strong reaction
to a brief description of Mike VonAllmen’s story. |
think a meeting with Mike could be useful in getting
him to cosponsor, but | doubt it’s necessary in
convincing him. He made a point of telling us that
he is not Conservative. He also mentioned racial
disparities in sentencing. Kirk thinks he’s definitely
with us, | think he is very likely with us but may

11 need some convincing to step out about it.

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David

Watkins

Interview results and other information

MARCH 2015 TO REP. DAVID FLOYD: Last evening,
David Watkins approached me as we were leaving the
chamber and asked if | would be filing abolition again
next year. I said yes, absolutely. He said (and I'll
paraphrase) he’ll likely be with us because while he
thinks that awful people deserve death, he is
understanding more and more that the innocent could
be executed. He also thinks costs might be an issue,
but not so much as innocence.

Dave

No 3/12/14 (Kate Mudd, Kate Miller, Sabrina Butler):
Wants to keep Death Penalty for the worst of the worst
but recognizes how unevenly the DP is applied. He likes
to talk a lot, so it was hard to get a precise feel for his
position but he seems persuadable. Maybe get a man
to talk to him as it seems that he talks over women a
lot.

Says he is willing to co-sponsor Floyd bill if Floyd wants
him to. Swayed by Kirk Bloodsworth.

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James Gooch, Jr. Yes on RJA - no hope on DP - 2002; (2/12/14 Shekinah, 1
Kate Mudd, Michael VonAllmen) The cost argument
interests him. He thinks that life without parole should
be used more often than not. Shared with us that he’s
12 discussed this with his wife, and that she said she

13

wouldn’t want a death penalty case on her conscience.
He’s not with us yet, but | think he can be with more
meetings with innocent people and maybe with
someone like Randy Wheeler.

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Jim

Tommy

Glenn

Thompson

Interview results and other information

January 2016 in Frankfort: Rep Glenn (15 min)
Shekinah, Jared Ruhl--

Rep Glenn is with us. He will not co-sponsor because
he says his constituents would not support that but he
says that if an abolition bill came to the floor, he’d
absolutely vote for it. He’s a very friendly, talkative
person who is passionate about education. Glenn does
not support life in prison without parole either, he
doesn’t think that people need to be in jail that long to
not be a danger to society. He says you can just wait til
they’re 35 and can’t run as fast to let them out, and he
said that most crime is perpetrated by young people.
He cited innocence as a big part of his reason for being
against the death penalty, but | think that’s just a
validation of the opinion he already holds, based on his
overall sentiments about the criminal justice system.
He teaches finance and economics at Owensboro
Community College and he thinks that most people are
pretty stupid (his words).

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Brent Yonts 02 son on trial for manslaughter; "needs an outcry from 1
the people" note by Pat - Woodall killed cheerleader in
his district. Case still much alive in peoples minds,
6/28/13

Aug/Sep 2014 - Brent told member of the press and

15 then repeated it to Pat Delahanty that he is having a
real struggle and that this process cannot continue. He
is unwilling to abandon the death penalty
philosophically, but seems convinced now that this
flawed process - he is deeply touched by the Arizona
bothched execution - may need abandoning.

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17 16 Martha Jane King 1

18 17 Jim DeCesare 1

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Tim

Michael L.
Jody

Moore

Meredith
Richards

Interview results and other information

Rep. Moore (2/11/15) (Meeting lasted about 15
minutes, Shekinah Lavalle and Mike VonAllmen) |
had Moore on my list for the day anyway so we
went to see him and he made some time for us
real quick. He was in a hurry to rush us off at first,
but we got to talking and the conversation got a
little more relaxed. He is definitely not “pro-life” to
the point that that value alone will win this issue for
him. He specifically mentioned Timothy McVeigh
(what IS it with that guy?) as someone who should
be executed. | pointed out that (| think) acts of
terrorism probably fall under Federal jurisdiction
and that they have better failsafes. Mike pointed
out that legislation is a law for everyone and he
was talking about exceptions. Moore was very
interested in the cost study and claims to have
spoken to Floyd about the DP fairly frequently. He
said he'd vote for “the right bill” which right now |
think means one that allows for a tim mcveigh to
be executed. | recommend having Mike Janocek
talk with him--some of his conservative ideology is
at odds with his stance at this point. He did
mention that the death penalty was not for him
philosophically or biblically wrong, but he doesn’t
trust the government and humans to do the right
thing the right way enough to allow for executions.
This guy is on the fence and we can push him
over.

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99 - for dp, same as he told us in '88; '01, in leadership;
committed not to interfere; 4/14 may be closer to
getting him

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25: 24

Bart

Wilson

Johnny
Terry

Rowland

Stone

Bell
Mills

Interview results and other information
Representative Rowland (2/25/15, mtg lasted
about 15 minutes) (John Stopher, Miriam Byrd
Hans, Luke Hans, Shekinah Lavalle present)

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| don’t think our meeting with Rep. Rowland was
very fruitful. He gave off an air of disinterest while
still being very polite. He listened to each of us
speak but did not ask any questions about
anything other than the movement of the bill in
committee. He said he wasn’t aware that
abolishing the death penalty was on “anyone’s
radar” in the KY legislature and said that in all of
his meetings, no one had mentioned it. For all he
didn’t know about the death penalty, he seemed to
know that we were currently on a moratorium and
knew that it was related to the drug protocol, he
also indicated that he was aware of botched
executions in 2014. So, | don’t really know what
his deal is, but he didn’t seem super friendly to our
issue. I'd love to see him in a more friendly
context. Do we know anyone who knows him? All
of his committees and background seem money-
related and he did seem a bit interested in cost.
Anyway, he thanked us for “bringing this issue to
{his} attention” and we left. He also had his
television on the whole time and looked at it while
we talked. Nota great sign.

Strongly supports death penalty. Pat 4/2014

Told Pat 4/2014 he would vote to abolish

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Jim

Russell

Duplessis

Webber

Interview results and other information

Rep. Duplessis (2/11/15) (Meeting lasted about 20
minutes, Shekinah Lavalle and Mike Von Allmen)
Pretty much off the bat, Duplessis told us that he
was a pro-life conservative who doesn’t believe in
the death penalty. Mike shared his story and he
was concerned about the fact that the eyewitness
testimony was so fallible. He wants to read the bill
and he specifically wanted to know what Rep.
Moore thought. He said that Moore is a “leader in
our caucus” and that if moore was on board, he’d
be more inclined to co-sponsor the abolition bill as
well. He was careful to say that he cannot support
a bill that he hasn’t read, but as he won't find any
surprises, | think we can count him as a “yes” vote.
| pointed out that Floyd sponsored the bill and he
said that that was “a big plus” for him.

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Jeff

Charles

Greer

Miller

Interview results and other information

Dec. 2014 - A couple of weeks ago, at an event at a
Catholic parish in his district, he said that he had
surveyed his constituents a few years ago and found
them overwhelmingly supportive of the death penalty.
He said he couldn’t go against his constituents. There
was a good discussion and a couple of us pointed out
that it usually makes a big difference if you ask the
question in different ways, that when people are aware
that life without parole is an option, they usually go
with that over the dp. He promised to include another
question on the issue in his next survey to see if there
has been any movement. I’m not sure if he is going to
change the wording of the question or not.

Kate says Sabrina met with him.

Nov 4 2015: Names of others present (use back of page
if necessary):

Sister Lydia Falzon, Sister Lucillia Mangion, Darlene
Livers, Allisin Stull, Margaret McCoy

Shirley Beavin, Cindy Humphrey, John Beavin, Greg
Beavin, Huschell Hardesty.

PLEDGED TO VOTE YES

The historical talking points were mentioned only in the
context that... “You and | both know the talking points.
We aren't really going to spend much time on them.”

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Not sure when he was spoken to, but for DP, but
remains open. Believes voters want it.

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Kevin D.

Thomas J.

Steven R.

Bratcher

Burch

Riggs

Interview results and other information

No on RJA. (3/5/14 Kate Mudd, Shekinah) He talked in
detail about horrific rape and murder cases and then
asked us what we think should happen to the people
who committed those crimes. He doesn’t seem like
someone who’s going to move, but maybe someone
else should try (I’d recommend they be males).

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Supports abolition

Summer 2014 - Miriam, Shekinah - Tom Burch is with
us and spent most of our time talking a lot about
women’s reproductive health rights. He said that he
supports treatment for drug abusers and drew a
connection between this issue and the death penalty by
saying that a lot of times people get into bad situations
that escalate and they just need some support to get
out. He did talk a bit about “black on black crime”
saying that we had to find a way to get “those people
to stop killing each other” (ugh). He said that he
regrets voting to reinstate the death penalty in the 70’s
but that back then, they didn’t know as much about
how bad the system would be. He grew up in an
abusive home, which he alluded to several times and
again drew connections between that type of violence
and murder, he talked about how passionate/enraged
people can become and then do stupid things. He said
that he’d vote to abolish the death penalty but that he
will not cosponsor a bill with David Floyd.

tried to see twice; no success;

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Phil

Moffett

Interview results and other information
Dear Mrs. Price:
| will talk to Representative Floyd about his bills.

1am not an opponent of the death penalty in moral
grounds but also see that the implementation of the
death penalty hardly ever happens. We have very few
death row inmates in Kentucky. It is my understanding
only 4 inmates have been executed by the state since
the penalty was reinstated sometime in the 1970's.
Two of them waived their appeal rights because they
did not want to live in prison for the remainder of their
natural life.

lam very interested in understanding the costs
associated with incarceration of Death Row inmates. |

could be convinced to do away with it for fiscal reasons.

We should look for ways to ease the burden on
taxpayers at every opportunity.

Thank you again. | promise to stay on top of this issue.

Sincerely,
Phil Moffett

Sep 3, 2015: Meeting with constituents - Natalie
Butcher, Ray Schmidt, Pat O’Bryant, Jack Russel, Mary
Lou Schmidt, Mary Ruckriegel, Father John Johnson,

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Ron Crimm 2001 - troubled by the death penalty. 4/2014, Pat D 1
thinks he will vote to abolish

Email to Carlos Malave in Jan 2016:

This is how Mr. Crimm responded:

Thank you for your email. There is nothing we have
worked on that has given me more of a problem then
this issue. One day | am ready to do away with it and
then some guy goes and take s the lives of innocent
people. Doing away with it does not necessary lower
our state We have to take care of them forever. |
appre3ciate your thoughts and be assured | will take
them into consideration if | have to vote on that bill. By

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the way, my wife does not agree with me at this point.
Ron

| responded him with the case in favor of abolition. |
was actually surprised with his honest struggle and
thoughtful consideration.

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35 34 Mary Lou Marzian Abolition Supporter 1.

36 35 Jim Wayne Abolition Supporter L

Jerry Miller During 2015 session David Floyd reported to Kate Miller 1
36 that Jerry Miller is with us; Jan 27, '16 email from Carlos
37 Malave confirms this position.

38 37 Jeffery Donohue | ja

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Denver

Butler

Interview results and other information

MARCH 2015 - CONVERSATION WITH REP. DAVID
FLOYD: Denny Butler told me Friday that he will likely
cosponsor abolition next session. He's working two DP
cases now, hopes they will be complete before end of
year.

Dave

Supports DP, but cop who helped get exoneration.
1/29/14 Kate Mudd, Michael VonAllmen, Shekinah) He
thinks we should have federal standards for using the
DP. he wants to keep it, and specifically mentioned
using it for “cop killers”. He would support instituting
the ABA report recommendations. He was adamant
that abolishing the death penalty would not fix the
institutional problems that lead to the findings in the
ABA report. He repeatedly argued that the ABA report
was “hypothetical” and that we should focus on
righting the wrongs in cases where people have been
wrongfully convicted of crimes. He also volunteered to
talk with Tilley and Westerfield (definitely the most
useful part of this conversation).

(Miriam, Shekinah) 9/19/14--Denny Butler refuses to
state that he is against the death penalty and says he
would not vote to abolish. He would like to file a bill
during the session to put a moratorium on the death

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Dennis

Thomas

Reginald K.

Darryl

Horlander

Riner Jr.

Meeks

Owens

Interview results and other information
2001 - "things are changing - victims changing"; 4/2014
told Pat he would vote to abolish.

(3/12/14 Kate Mudd, Sabrina Butler) For the Death
Penalty, though he promised to poll his district and see
what they think. He asked for follow up materials
which were sent to him.

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Supports DP, but has serious doubts. Can be moved.
(2/26/14 Ruth Lowe, Shekinah) He was very impressed
with Ruth Lowe’s story. He asked her to pray for him to
do the right thing should it come up. He would not
vote to abolish right now, but he seems to think that
maybe that is where he should be. He said he would
definitely vote to get the bill out of committee.

Abolition Supporter - (2/4/14 Shekinah, Michael
VonAllmen) Focused a lot on Michael's story, thinks his
DNA collection bill is a good solution to wrongful
convictions. Wants racial breakdown on KY and
Nationally (though we explained that KY’s race data
doesn’t show a strong bias). Said he’d vote to abolish
but did not seem interested in co-sponsoring. (Told Pat
Delahanty he didn't care for the sponsor David Floyd
and that's why he is not co-sponsoring.)

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Joni L.

J. Stan

Larry

Jenkins

Lee

Clark

Interview results and other information

1999 - Going to think and pray. Jane Walsh can work on
her. 2003 - Can support all remedial; will approach
Stumbo about cost and process; Standford helps her.
8/15/2014 Randy Steidl and | (Kate Miller) met with
Joni at her office at JCTC. Randy shared his story and
Joni appeared to be listening closely and asked good
follow up questions. She has gone back and forth on
the issue because of the Stanford killing. She recalled a
vote in A&R that had something to do with the budget
and funding the death penalty. After being pressed she
said she would have to go with her faith on this one
and vote for abolition. Later she affirmed if there were
a death penalty bill in front of her she would vote for
abolition.

She brought up concern for the family members of
murder victims and pointed out how hard the appeals
process can be on them. She mentioned her history as
a victim advocate and how that shaped her opinion.
She also brought up her concern (thought not well
researched, she said) was for corrections officers’
safety if we did not have a death penalty to hold over
inmates head’s. Randy explained that from his
experience the better behaved inmates were the one’s
doing life sentences as they just wanted to carve out a
little bit of normalcy.

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For dp. God has spoken - 2001; wife is abolitionist

“Need to revisit the whole issue of the Death Penalty.
Problem with the system. Yes on Abolition

ry

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Rick W.

Rand

Interview results and other information

03, wants to be nice, for d.p. UPDATE: (1/29/14 Kate
Mudd, Shekinah, Michael VonAllmen) Rand seemed to
agree that the DP needs to go but will not do so
without hearing from his own constituents. There was
a murder in his district recently and he is of the opinion
(rightly so, I’m sure) that his constituents would be
unhappy about him voting for abolition at this time. He
does poll his district from time to time, so that seems
like a possible opportunity to work with him on getting
a feel for where his constituents stand. He also pointed
out that wording matters in something like that and
suggested that if his constituents were asked questions
in a certain way, they’d express more interest in
abolition. Rand needs to see that it would not be
detrimental to his career as a politician to vote yes on
an abolition bill and convincing him that it would be to
his benefit | think would get a definite yes from him.

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Bob M.

DeWeese

Interview results and other information

Worries about innocence; otherwise supports dp;
“abolition will happen - in decade" he'll end up with us;
“it doesn't work is best for him."

SUMMER 2014 Shekinah Lavalle and Rev. Jim Halliday --
Mr. Deweese mentioned the botched executions and
said that though he’d supported DP in the past, he’d
been questioning his position recently and that these
recent happenings have “pushed [him] over the edge”.
He said that he’s not sure KY is ready to repeal the
death penalty but that he thinks it needs to happen.
The cost of the system also bothers him--especially if
that money we save can be funneled into better law
enforcement, etc. He said that he has “a lot of respect
for David Floyd and Bob Hellringer” when we asked
what we could do to move him on the issue. | think
that getting one or both of these folks to talk with him
about this issue might push him to co-sponsor or put
himself out in front on this issue. He really seemed to
be straddling a line of wanting to do something, but not
being sure it was politically a smart move, and not
being convinced that he’d have a lot of support. He
does have an election this year and | doubt from the
sound of it that he’d be willing to put himself out there
until after the election. Jim Halliday was excellent and
straight out asked him what we could do to move him
on this issue. I'd like to have him in legislative meetings

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Linda

David

Belcher

Floyd

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9/23/2015 - Ed Harpring, Laurie Dye and Deacon Ted al
Luckett met with Linda Belcher and reported:

Linda Belcher was very warm-hearted and non political.
She is doing a lot of good work advocating for prisoner
— restorative justice and the homeless in Bullitt County.
She has not decided on the Death Penalty. She said
that she is polling her constituents to get a better sense
of what the majority want. However, she seemed open
to abolition. We talked through the Courier-Journal
Forum section. Deacon Ted was especially effective
because he, as former police officer, and working as a
prison minister shared many stories about men and
women that had reformed and that the Death Penalty
is not a deterrent. Linda seemed to really give these
stories a lot of credibility. Laurie, as well, provided
some genuinely heartfelt comments that seemed to
resonate with Linda. Linda did ask Ted if he thought the
Penalty was a deterrent and he adamantly responded
that it was not and he related several stories of
prisoners to affirm his response. | truly believe that
Linda will vote to repeal the Death Penalty based on
her comments and receptiveness to what we had to
say.

Supports abolition; sponsor of HB 330 1 | |

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John

Carney

Interview results and other information

3/13/14 (Kate Mudd, Sabrina Butler): Rep. Carney met
Sabrina briefly and was interested enough to set up a
meeting with us the following week with Mike
VonAllmen.

3/18/14 No Kate Miller, Michael VonAllmen)

He did seek us out and he might move on this issue.
Sabrina made an impression on him and he wanted to
hear more about her case. We were not able to
arrange a meeting with him and Sabrina but we did get
him a meeting with Michael.

Nov 11, 2014 - in Campbellsville - included Kate Miller,
Jennifer Raggard (ACLU intern) and Kirk Bloodsworth.
Kirk shared his storyabout being the first death row
inmate exonerated by DNA. Carney was very interested
in the cost for KY. He believed that this was needed for
political cover for his constituents. | highlighted the
challenges in terms of getting accurate numbers on
costs, the obstacles that are in the way and explained
with his help and the weight of the general assembly
those figures might be more accessible. | believe it
would be helpful for Representative Floyd to follow up
with him.

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Ken

James

Mike

Upchurch

Tipton

Harmon

Interview results and other information

3/13/14 (Kate Mudd, Sabrina Butler): Kate introduced
Sabrina to Upchurch in the hallway. He told Kate that
he wishes KY were more like TX, but was pleasant to
Sabrina. He is FOR the death penalty. He was very nice
and talked to us about some of his concerns, mostly
just the possibility of executing someone innocent. He
doesn’t care about cost, said he didn’t care how much
it costs to execute some people as long as they get
executed.

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Representative Tipton (2/5/15) (mtg lasted about
25 minutes with Kirk Bloodsworth and Shekinah
Lavalle)-- Tipton was very friendly to both of us and
seemed to be excited to meet Kirk. Seemed like a
“good ol” boy but in the good way--like he has
strong values and a deeply held moral/Christian
beliefs. Tipton said “I've moved a lot on this issue
over the years...and | don’t think we have the right
to take away the time on earth that someone might
have to find Jesus and repent”. So, | think he’s
with us. I'd like to meet with him again, with
another religious person---maybe Ruth or Miriam?

| |

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Kim King (1/29/14 Kate Mudd, Michael VonAllmen, Shekinah) 4
Did not pay a lot of attention to what we had to say.
She seemed to be pro-DP, but was interested in the
financial aspects of DP repeal. She became very fixated
55 on the juror confusion aspect of the ABA report. Not
really sure that she was actually interested in that or if
she was trying to find something to focus on.
56
57 56 James Kay 1
58 57 Derrick W. Graham 1
59 58 Brad Montell 1

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60

59

61

60

David

Sal

Osborne

Santoro

Interview results and other information

(1/30/14 Shekinah, Michael VonAllmen) Wants to keep
the DP for the worst of the worst. He’s not sure about
the DP. He is on the fence, doesn’t seem to feel very
strongly about it one way or the other. Was interested
in Mike VonAllmen’s story, but it didn’t seem to make a
huge impression on him. My feeling was that he would
want to hear from constituents and might be swayed
by more figures about cost. | would also like to bring in
MVFM because | think he’d be interested in hearing
from them.

Email response to constituent Mary Haynes
Dear Mary,

Thank you for taking the time to contact me regarding
your support for repealing the death penalty. | must
admit that this is a tough one for me. | have always
considered myself to be strongly in favor of the death
penalty for the most heinous of crimes. That said, the
way that it is presently administered gives me great
pause. | am not quite to the point where | can
definitively say that | can support a complete repeal but
1am to the point that | think that we need to make
some dramatic changes to the current system and will
absolutely do a lot of soul searching if | get to cast a
vote on the bill. | know that is not exactly the answer
that you might want but it is the best that | can offer, at

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63

64

61

62

63

Brian

Ryan

Diane

Linder

Quarles

St. Onge

Interview results and other information

January 2016 in Frankfort: Rep Linder (30 min) Mike,
Jared Ruhl, Shekinah--

Rep Linder was clear immediately that he struggles with
the issue and said he was “on the fence”. He said he
has moments where he sees particularly bad crimes
and thinks that the person deserves to die. He stated
that he would not co-sponsor but he thought that he
would likely vote to abolish, regardless of what kind of
backlash he might get from voters. He said that it’s
difficult to reconcile a pro-life stance with a pro-death-
penalty stance. He’s definitely concerned that he
would not be re-elected if he took a stance. He
listened to Mike’s story and was not particularly moved
by it. | don’t think that innocence is the way to reach
him. | think talking with a death row exoneree could
prove to be beneficial if the conversation was tailored
to talking points about losing innocent life--| doubt
shortfalls in technical aspects of the legal system are of
particular interest to him. | think that follow up
conversations would be most successful if they are with
pro-life individuals.

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(3/5/14 Kate Mudd, Mike VonAllmen, Shekinah) Would
like to help bill move forward. Said he’d like to talk to
Tilley, said cost was a compelling argument.

Rated him as a YES with a BIG ? Counting that a NO

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66

67

64

65

66

Thomas R.

Arnold

Addia

Kerr

Simpson

Wuchner

Interview results and other information
2003 switched from Democrat; not clear where he is
from Carl's notes

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99 - used to be for dp, but race and innocence changed
him; afraid of politics; '01 - will vote yes on abolish

ry

12 - Phone conversation with Pat. HIGHLY
CONFIDENTIAL. She supports abolition; politically afraid
to be public this year and wants to get other things
done. Will be public in the future and may be willing to
be a leader on this issue.

Jan 31 '15 - publicly came out at a Catholic@theCapitol
event in northern KY.

From a newspaper account: At Saturday's session, state
Rep. Addia Wuchner, R-Burlington, said she had
changed her position on the death penalty and would
support phasing it out. She stopped short of saying she
would vote for such a bill, however, saying the details
of legislation could be important.

"I've been thinking about this for several years, and it
has been a process for me," Wuchner told the crowd of
about 80-plus people. "I've never really thought about
how we are all taking a human life. | think we have a
long way to go on this issue, and it will take a lot of
education. But | have changed my position now publicly
for the first time."

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68

69 68

Dennis

Joseph M.

Keene

Fischer

Interview results and other information

2015 - Representative Keene (2/26/16 lasted about 25
minutes) (Michael VonAllmen and Shekinah Lavalle
were present)Representative Keene let us know
immediately that he was with us. He says he’s been
against the death penalty as long as he’s beena
legislator. He said he was excited that there’s a bill and
that he’d been unaware of it. He also had good things
to say about Rep. Floyd and seemed to be very
interested in working with him on that bill. He was very
interested in Mike’s story and told him that he’d use it
in the future to talk about some of the issues that using
the death penalty brings up. He was glad to have
talking points on LWOP and the ABA report. He said
that he likes to work across lines of difference and |
think he might be a good person to develop more of a
relationship with to foster conversations between that
block of NKY legislators who are “pro-life”.

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2001 - "it will happen someday" strong for DP

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71

72

73

74

69

70
71
72
73

Adam

Mitchel B.
Jonathan
Sannie
Donna

Koenig

Denham, Jr.
Shell
Overly
Mayfield

Interview results and other information

9/25/14 Kate Miller and Death Row Exoneree Gary
Drinkard met with State Representative Adam Koenig
NO VOTE ON ABOLITION

Met for around an hour, talked about a number of
issues.

He is supportive of the death penalty but said he was

surprised to find how much common ground we were
able to identify. He said he was also surprised by how
reasonable we seemed to be on the issue.

Cost did not come up till the end of the conversation
and he said that this was very compelling to him and his
constituents. This is something that should be further
explored. He will not vote to abolish the death penalty
but said he would be interested in some other
legislative action dealing with the issues with the death
penalty. He had also had issue with legislative fiscal
analysis and thought that there should be a more
robust financial analysis done.

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2001 - Broad civic interests

Pelee

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76

77

74

75
76

David

Kelly
Ruth Ann

Hale

Flood
Palumbo

Interview results and other information
Representative Hale(February 25th, mtg lasted

about 35 minutes) (John Stopher, Miriam Byrd
Hans, Luke Hans, Shekinah Lavalle)-At first, Hale
seemed a little argumentative about who
“deserves” the death penalty. After Miriam told her
story and concluded with something along the lines
of “no one should be killed”, he pushed back a bit
and said “you can’t convince me that there aren't
SOME people who deserve it, I’m sorry”. He was
very interested in John Stopher's story and really
perked up when John told him that he had a son
on death row and that he used to support the death
penalty. He loved hearing from Luke (Miriam's 13
year old son), who talked about how either way, he
doesn’t have a grandpa and how the death penalty
would never bring him any closure or fix that fact. |
replied to his comment about who “deserves” the
death penalty and gave him the talking points we
usually do about how this isn’t about what the
person who definitely did it deserves, it’s about a
broken public policy and you can’t trample over the
innocent to execute the guilty (Kirk’s words, | love
them).

Then Hale tells us this story of how he was
friends with a guy who’s wife was brutally

raped and murdered, how that guy and the
victim’s father had tried on two occasions

during the trial to sneak a gun into the

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saw briefly, possible; yes on RJA and Juvenile

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78

78

79

George

Thomas M.

Brown

McKee

Interview results and other information [Abolish |Keep |Movable

Unknown

Rep. Brown (2/11/15) (Meeting lasted for 25 i
minutes, Shekinah Lavalle and Mike VonAllmen)
Rep Brown is still opposed to the death penalty.

He thinks we make mistakes and that the system

is racially and otherwise biased. He sounded like

he might co-sponsor the cost study, but | think he'll
need a reminder. He’s a definite “yes” vote,

though.

99 Scared of politics; could be with us if the politics i
changed.

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Susan Westrom 3/12/14 Representative Susan Westrom — met with 1
Sabrina Porter and Kate Miller — leaning towards yes.
KCADP was unable to schedule a meeting with
Representative Westrom in advance but upon entering
the Annex we ran into Representative Westrom who
invited us to her office.

She was very welcoming and eager to hear Sabrina’s
story. She also took the time to share some her own
story. What it was like being a single mom, what her
relationship was like with her only daughter.
Representative Westrom also took some time to talk to

79 us about issues that are important to her including the
smoking ban and domestic violence and human
trafficking in particular. She was warm and sweet. She
allowed us to take a picture an also had her staff
person take a picture. Sabrina shared her story and
Representative Westrom listened and asked good
questions. She seemed to be touched by Sabrina’s story
and said that ultimately, if this came to a vote she
believes she would vote in favor of abolition.
80
81 80 David Meade Met with Kate and Mike on 3/20/14, no results 1
82 81 Rita H. Smart 04/2014 Co-sponsored HB 330 fe
83 82 Regina Bunch 1
83 Jeffrey H. Hoover 1999 - said he supported dp; now, not sure; 4/2014 1
84 closer to abolition
85 84 Fitz Steele Strongly supports death penalty. Pat 4/2014 1
86 85 Tommy Turner Listens to Tom Handy 1

87 86 Jim Stewart III Probably hopeless. 1

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89

90

91

87
88

89

90

Rick
Robert
Marie L.

Tim

Nelson
Benvenuti, III
Rader

Couch

Interview results and other information
01 new, no other note

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Strongly supports death penalty. Pat 4/2014

NO on Racial Justice Act - no other notes -

2015 Jon Saderholm & Charlie Wilton reports she is a
YES on abolition: Representative Marie Rader (District
89): She supports repeal, and we invited her to
cosponsor HB 82. She said that she was interested in
that, but is also interested in learning more about the
new bill from Senator Webb. She shared with us how
moved she was by Rep. David Floyd's recent floor
speech on the death penalty, and encouraged us to find
it online. | believe that if Rep. Floyd asked her
personally, she would be a new cosponsor for HB 82,
and possibly HCR 30. Note that she has a close
relationship with Senate President Stivers, since they
have represented overlapping areas, so this is a
promising connection. As with Howard, she was candid
and friendly, happy to speak with us, and eager to hear
from us in the future.

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93

94

95

96

91

92
93
94

95

Howard

John W.
Chris
Leslie
Greg

Cluster

Short
Harris
Combs
Stumbo

Interview results and other information

2015 visit from Jon Saderholm and Charlie Wilton -
Representative Cluster Howard (District 91): This was a
very informative visit. He completely supports death
penalty repeal, but feels very vulnerable politically. He
is in his first term, having upset an incumbent by a very
narrow margin, and expects attack ads in 2016
hammering him over his votes on issues such as needle
exchange and criminal record expungement. He has
polling on death penalty attitudes in his district (about
67% prefer death penalty vs LWOP). He believes that
any progressive bill that is passed by the House will be
defeated in the Senate and then used as a cudgel to
unseat Democrats in the next election cycle. His advice
is to focus on the Senate first, and whatever the
Senate passes the House will pass with no problem. |
believe he would vote to repeal if it came to a floor
vote, but would not cosponsor or speak publicly on it
unless/until re-elected in 2016. We encouraged him to
cosponsor HCR 30 and will follow up with him on that.
Despite not being his constituents, he was very
generous with his time, candid and helpful.

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99 "not committed on the issue" "haven't thought
about it" (may be talking about juvenile); '01 says no
one is for abolition; deterrent

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97

98

99

100}

101

102

96

97
98

99

100

Jill

Hubert
Tanya
Rocky

Kevin

York

Collins
Pullin
Adkins

Sinnette

Representative York (2/4/15) (mtg lasted about 20
minutes with Kirk Bloodsworth and Shekinah
Lavalle) - York listened politely to Kirk’s story and
knew the bills and their sponsors. She did not give
any information about her personal stance on the
death penalty, | plan to follow up because she
expressed interest in cost. She was concerned
about the innocence aspect but she really didn’t
seem moved. Whatever her position, she was very
guarded but not hostile, which leads me to believe
that she isn’t with us or believes that it is politically
beneficial to not come out.

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Probably hopeless.

01 New, no notes

Spoke with Al Bennett, pro-dp, got a new prison in
Elliott "we're showing we're serious about crime"

04/2014 has said he will vote to abolish

30

25

19

24

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