HB 16: An Act Related to Mental Illness
URGENT ACTION REQUEST
ACT NOW:
PLEASE CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVE IN THE KENTUCKY STATE
LEGISLATURE AND ASK HIM/HER TO SUPPORT HB 16 AND TO CO-SPONSOR
THIS BILL.
Call 1-800-372-7181 to contact your legislator and leave this message - I am calling to
ask that you support HB 16 and please consider co-sponsoring this important mental
health legislation to prevent the execution of severely mentally ill persons.
* Tf you do not know the name of your legislator, the person who answers the phone
MAY be able to help you. But, it is easier to use the Project Vote Smartlink to fill in your
home address, including your nine digit zip code to learn the names of your State
Representative and your State Senator.
* Please call as soon as possible, because we expect movement on this bill in the next
two to three weeks. It is very important legislators hear from their constituents.
* At the end of this note is a list of those who have already co-sponsored. This bill has
strong bi-partisan support. If your legislator's name appears at the end of this email,
please contact him/her and thank them for cosponsoring.
ABOUT THE BILL
The KENTUCKY MENTAL HEALTH COALITION and the NATIONAL ALLIANCE
ON MENTAL ILLNESS KENTUCKY are working with Rep. David Floyd and other
Kentucky legislators to pass a law that will prevent the execution of severely mentally ill
persons who commit a capital murder and whose mental illness is active at the time the
crime was committed.
KCADP supports this effort to limit executions in the state. This bill is similar to the law
that was passed in 1990 that excluded those who are mentally retarded from executions.
Defendants with an active severe mental illness at the time of a crime have a diminished
capacity for understanding what it is they are doing. This diminished capacity limits their
culpability, their blameworthiness for this action. In addition, the death penalty, allegedly
a deterrent, could have little or no impact on a severely mentally ill defendant.
The bill's language flows from language recommended by the American Psychological
Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Bar Association and
the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI).
In addition to support from the above mental health and legal experts, this legislation is
being nationally promoted by Murder Victims Families for Human Rights.
nami logoMVFHR and NAMI have recently published DOUBLE TRAGEDIES, Victims
Speak Out Against the Death Penalty for People with Severe Mental Illness.
HOW THE LAW WOULD WORK
If the bill becomes law, it would become effective 90 days after the end of the General
Assembly, about July 15, 2010. It will apply only to defendants whose trials begin after
the effective date.
IT WILL NOT APPLY TO ANYONE ALREADY SENTENCED TO DIE AND
ALREADY ON DEATH ROW IN KENTUCKY. MAKE SURE YOUR LEGISLATOR
UNDERSTANDS THIS IF YOU TALK WITH HIM/HER PERSONALLY.
The procedural aspects of the law mirror what happens in cases where the defendant may
be mentally retarded.
If a prosecutor decides to seek the death penalty and the defendant alleges that he/she was
severely mentally ill at the time of the crime, then the Judge would hold a hearing before
the trial. The prosecutors and the defense attorneys would present their evidence and the
judge would render a decision. If the Judge finds that the defendant was severely
mentally ill at the time of the crime, then the prosecutor can seek life without parole, life
without parole for 25 years, life or a term of years. The prosecutor could not seek to
execute the defendant.
If the Judge finds that the defendant was NOT actively severely mentally ill at the time of
the crime, then the prosecutor can seek the death penalty, but the defense attorney can
still present the defendant's claim of mental illness to the jury.
By deciding this matter before trial, the State saves money by not having to try the case
as a death penalty case when the Judge rules that the defendant was, indeed, severely
mentally ill at the time of the trial.
Below is a link to the Legislative Research Commission website location of HB 16. By
clicking on the link you can read the bill for yourself. This also includes the names of
those legislators who have already co-sponsored HB 16 and who should be thanked for
doing so.
HB 16/CI (BR 98) - D. Floyd, D. Owens, S. Brinkman, M. Cherry, J. Crenshaw, R.
Crimm, C. Embry Jr., K. Flood, T. Riner, A. Simpson, R. Weston
AN ACT relating to mental illness.
Amend KRS 532.130 to define severe mental illness; amend KRS 532.135 to include
a severely mentally ill defendant; amend KRS 532.140 to include severely mentally ill
offender and to establish effective date.
(Prefiled by the sponsor(s).)
Sep 2-To: Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary
Jan 5-introduced in House; to Judiciary (H)
