(1) Abolition of the death penalty is the ultimate Organizational Goal of KCADP. On the path to
abolition, KCADP’s Project Goal is to stop executions through all available means, a goal of real
and special exigency owing to the possibility of five executions in the next twelve months. The
ultimate Organizational Goal has a five-seven year time frame and the Project Goal is immediate
and compelling.
To accomplish both its Project Goal and its Organizational Goal, KCADP seeks, seizes and
creates all available opportunities to diminish, restrict, constrict and erode support for and use of
the death penalty with the goal of sending the death penalty into remission where it once
comfortably resided for 35 years (1963-1997) until it can be abolished officially.
(2) The strategy for achieving the Project Goal is multifaceted but the cornerstone is organizing a
diverse, statewide chorus of voices of those who prefer a penal option other than the death
penalty—some for moral reasons, some for ethical or religious reasons, some for practical
reasons, some for public policy reasons and some for financial reasons.
(3) Among specific KCADP activities now in process, each a specific pathway to its objectives,
is.
© Raised in 24 months 2/3" of a three year budget, over $160,000.00, including
retention of a full-time director of advocacy and education
¢ Established officially recognized volunteer programs at two Kentucky law
schools with statewide student enrollment where students can fulfill their
mandatory public service requirement through KCADP legal work
* Started a project to file an amicus brief with the Kentucky Supreme Court thereby
publishing current arguments against executions and inviting formal and public
recognition of flaws by the judiciary
e Invited, encouraged and nurtured the American Bar Association to officially
access Kentucky's death penalty system using a team of experts, a project now
approved, funded and fully staffed with an 18 month completion date [think of
this as a statewide study commission appointment the ABA rather than the
legislature or the governor]
e Recruited the author of Kentucky's penal code, to make a formal request of the
governor to stop executions during a period when public defenders' budgets are
stressed
¢ Recruited a former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice, who supports the death
penalty, to call on the governor to assess and evaluate how the death penalty is
administered in Kentucky and declared a moratorium on executions until
completed
¢ Recruited volunteers to establish a state-of-the-art online communications
strategy with establishment of a YouTube channel, KCADP email domain,
Facebook Page, Twitter account and related social media and upgraded email
management service
e Started a systemized outreach to college campus managed by a part-time summer
intern funded by a fellowship from Chase Law School
¢ Encouraged research at the department of sociology at a university on the myth
and hoax of justifying executions as closure for victims families
¢ Supported educational outreach that may culminate in stopping executions of the
mentally ill
e Adopted a long range strategic plan
(7) (8) The political landscape in Kentucky is one that talks tough on capital punishment but
seldom uses it. There have been three executions in 47 years and two of those dropped their
appeals and asked to be executed. The last study on the death penalty completed in 1966
recommended abolition and while not adopted by the General Assembly, there were no
executions for the next 31 years. Prosecutors seldom use the death penalty, juries don't seem to
like it and public officials seldom carry it out. While there is insufficient legislative support for
either outright repeal or an official moratorium on executions, this appears to be a ripe moment
to send the death penalty into remission where it once comfortably resided for 35 years (1963-
1997) and save five lives in the process.
The immediate political climate in Kentucky involves a sitting governor running for re-election
and an incumbent attorney general running for the United States Senate. Under Kentucky law,
the attorney general’s job is to request that the governor sign death warrants when warranted by
law. The governor schedules executions when requested by the attorney general unless
clemency is granted. Candidates for high office may believe executions are in the public and
political interest. This is especially urgent in a legal/political climate where as many as five
death row inmates reach the end of their appeals road. [Note: such inmates may still have
collateral legal issues to litigate. Such issues may not be compelling enough for a judge to stop a
scheduled execution but may be enough to persuade the attorney general to refrain from
requesting a warrant until the case is concluded].
(6) With a chorus of voices showing little or no public support for executions now and a
preference for an alternative when available,
candidates for office would be encouraged to adopt official inertia
the Kentucky Supreme Court would have a basis for finding that executions are
inconsistent with evolving standards of decency in Kentucky and therefore cruel and
unusual punishment within the meaning of legal precedent
e the governor would have a basis for granting clemency petitions on the basis of a finding
that other legal means are available to vindicate the public and penological interests used
to justify the death penalty
prosecutors would be dissuaded from asking for death sentences
juries would refrain from imposing death sentences
In the landmark case, Atkins v. Virginia 536 U.S. 304 (2002), the United States Supreme Court
outlawed the execution of mentally retarded persons on the grounds it was cruel and unusual
punishment. The court stated its decision was informed by a national consensus reflected in the
deliberations of the American public, legislators, scholars and judges.
A chorus of Kentucky voices expressing an emerging consensus in Kentucky for punishment
other than death when available would be an important pillar of KCADP’s amicus brief now in
process (law students from Chase Law School are helping with the project). It would also be
used in a clemency petition asking the governor to recognize Kentucky’s new standard of
decency and grant an alternative to the death sentence when it is clear that the penological
interest of the state can be accomplished by other reasonable means (the ‘other legal means’
standard was argued in the Supreme Court in the recent Kentucky case of Baze v. Rees (April
2008) but not adopted as a ‘legally’ mandated standard. But it is perfectly acceptable as a
clemency standard especially when coupled with opinion polls showing it comports with the
evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a civilized society).
(14) The success of the Project Goal can be conclusively determined if a certain five death row
inmates are still alive one year from now, if there have been no executions two years from now,
if the Kentucky Supreme Court accepts the amicus brief, if the governor grants a clemency
request in response to the evolving standard of decency argument. The success of the Project
Goal can be measured by tangible metrics and counted if KCADP has doubled its mailing list in
12 months; if KCADP’s education outreach has resulted in formal proposals made in the
legislature that restrict, constrict or erode eligibility for death sentences.
The board of KCADP would evaluate the effort and progress toward Project Goals with input as
requested from relevant communities.
DV
August 4, 2009
