Daily news from Louisville, Kentucky and Southern Indiana from courier-journal.com
Home ˇ News ˇ Sports ˇ Business ˇ Features ˇ Louisville Scene ˇ
Classifieds ˇ Jobs ˇ Cars ˇ Homes ˇ Marketplace ˇ Contact Us ˇ
Search
Local/Regional ť News Item Friday, October 25, 2002
Death penalty for juveniles opposed, poll shows
Results released as Patton ponders Stanford case
By Joseph Gerth
jgerth@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
Nearly two-thirds of Kentuckians strongly or somewhat favor
eliminating the death penalty for people who commit murders as
juveniles, according to a poll by the University of Kentucky's
Survey Research Center.
The finding comes at a time when Gov. Paul Patton is being asked to
spare the life of Kevin Stanford, who is awaiting execution for a
1981 Jefferson County rape and murder that he committed when he was
17.
Denis Fleming, Patton's general counsel, said yesterday that the
poll results would not affect the governor's decision whether to
commute Stanford's sentence to life in prison but that Patton agrees
with the poll's respondents.
''Based on the philosophical concerns he has about the application
of the death penalty for juveniles, the poll reflects a concern''
Patton already has expressed, Fleming said.
But state Sen. Robert Stivers, chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee, which serves as a gateway for death-penalty legislation,
said he doubts the poll results will change the minds of many
legislators who support capital punishment. A bill supported by
Patton to do away with the juvenile death penalty failed earlier
this year.
''I don't see there will be a whole lot of movement on it this
session either,'' said Stivers, RManchester. ''Polls are done in a
vacuum, but when people hear about the things these people have done
it would be interesting to see how their opinions change.''
Public advocate Ernie Lewis said that comment bothered him.
''I'm a little concerned that elected officials, when confronted
with these kind of poll results, aren't a little more concerned
about being out of step with the people of Kentucky. When a
consistent pattern develops over time, it's up to elected officials
to respond to that,'' he said.
The poll was conducted July 20 through Aug. 26 by UK's Survey
Research Center. It asked 882 Kentuckians about various issues,
including the juvenile death penalty. The poll's margin of error was
plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.
The state Department for Public Advocacy, which represents most
inmates on Kentucky's death row, commissioned the juvenile death
penalty question and released the results this week in its
''Legislative Update'' that goes to state senators and
representatives.
Lewis said the release wasn't timed to coincide with the U.S.
Supreme Court's decision this week not to take up Stanford's case
and the issue of whether executing juvenile offenders violates the
Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. ''We just wanted
legislators to have these results in their hands before they go back
to Frankfort,'' he said.
Early next week, Attorney General Ben Chandler will send Patton a
request for a death warrant for Stanford, said Barbara Hadley Smith,
Chandler's spokeswoman.
Stanford's lawyers have already asked Patton to commute Stanford's
sentence.
Smith said Patton has requested from Chandler's office information
about Stanford and his trial -- a step he never took in 1997 before
he denied clemency to Harold McQueen, who ultimately died in the
electric chair for a Madison County murder.
Stanford, 39, was convicted of killing gas-station attendant Baerbel
Poore. Stanford and David Buchanan took turns raping and sodomizing
Poore during a robbery at a Checker Gas Station on Cane Run Road in
Jefferson County before Stanford took Poore to a secluded spot and
shot her twice in the head.
Buchanan, who is serving a life sentence, and Stanford then returned
to the gas station, took two gallons of gasoline, 300 cartons of
cigarettes and $143.07.
Kentucky law allows the execution of people who commit aggravated
murder as 16or 17year-olds, but death-penalty opponents plan to
offer legislation that would allow the death penalty only for those
18 or older. The UK poll asked people if they support that
legislation.
In all, 63 percent said they strongly favor or somewhat favor the
legislation, and 32 percent somewhat oppose or strongly oppose it.
The poll question was long. Ron Langley, director of the Survey
Research Center, said he had initial concerns about that but said
the fact that only 5 percent said ''don't know'' indicates they
understood what was being asked.
While Kentucky residents generally support the death penalty, they
have followed national trends that show little support for executing
people who killed when they were juveniles.
A Gallup Poll conducted in May found that 69 percent of Americans
oppose the death penalty for juveniles, while only 26 percent favor
it. Kentucky is one of only 22 states that allow people under age 18
at the time of the crime to be executed, according to the Death
Penalty Information Center, a Washington-based group that opposes
capital punishment.
The UK Survey Research Center found in 2000 that only 15.5 percent
of people polled thought the death penalty was the most appropriate
penalty for a juvenile convicted of aggravated murder.
^^ Back to top
Subscribe!
Click here to get the C-J delivered to your door each morning.
Home ˇ News ˇ Sports ˇ Business ˇ Features ˇ Louisville Scene
ˇ Classifieds ˇ Jobs ˇ Cars ˇ Homes ˇ Marketplace ˇ Contact Us
ˇ Search
Copyright 2002 The Courier-Journal.
Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms of Service (updated
8/7/2001).
Send questions and comments to The Webmaster.
