June 29, 1972 - Furman v. Georgia - U. S. Supreme Court holds that the imposition and
carrying out of the death penalty in these cases constitute cruel and unusual punishment
in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.
July 2, 1976 - Gregg v. Georgia - U. S. Supreme Court rules held that punishment of
death for the crime of murder did not, under all circumstances, violate the Eighth and
Fourteenth Amendments
December 22, 1976 — Governor Julian Carroll signs into law a bill passed by the
Kentucky General Assembly in a special session. The new law establishes death, life or a
term of years as punishment for capital crimes.
August 1977 — Larry Bendingfield became the first defendant sentenced to death after
passage of the new law. His death sentence was overturned and he was retried and
sentenced to serve 75 years.
July 13, 1984 — The penalty of life without parole for 25 years is added to the statute as
another possible punishment for capital murder.
December 1988 — The Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty incorporated.
July 13, 1990 — The law is amended to exclude certain mentally disabled persons from
execution. (This does not include persons considered mentally ill.)
February 1997 ABA Call for a Moratorium, Resolution No. 107
June 1997 Public Advocate Ernie Lewis calls for a moratorium on executions
July 1,1997 - Harold McQueen, Jr. executed in the electric chair.
March 31, 1998 - Lethal injection becomes the usual means of execution, with exceptions
for those sentenced to death prior to the effective date of the legislation who are allowed
to choose execution.
March 31, 1998 — The statute is amended to include life without parole as a possible
penalty for a capital crime.
July 15, 1998 — The statute is amended by the Kentucky Racial Justice Act, which allows
a defendant to use statistical evidence to show racial bias in capital trials.
May 25, 1999 - Edward Lee Harper, Jr. waives any further appeals and becomes the first
executed by lethal injection in Kentucky.
November 21, 2008 - Marco Allen Chapman waives any further appeals and is executed
using lethal injection
August 1, 2002 — Larry Osborne is acquitted and freed from a sentence of death imposed
in a trial in 1999. The Kentucky Supreme Court unanimously vacated his conviction and
sentence and granted a new trial.
December 7, 2011 - Kentucky Death Penalty Assessment Team, A team of leading
Kentucky system of capital sentencing fails to meet a set of protocols of the American
Bar Association to ensure fairness and just outcomes. Recommendations calling for
repair to this damaged system are made. And for a suspension of executions in Kentucky
until the recommendations are fully implemented. To date no actions have been
undertaken by the executive and legislative and judicial branches of government to
address these recommendations.
January 2015 - Again, bills to repeal the death penalty are filed in both chambers of the
General Assembly by Republican and Democratic lawmakers. Bills calling for a study of
the costs of this system to Kentucky taxpayers were also filed. No hearings were held on
any of these measures.
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