So far 1,870 people, mostly Kentuckians, have signed this this online petition asking Gov. Steve Beshear and state representatives and senators to abolish the death penalty in Kentucky. If you haven’t done so yet, please sign the petition today. It takes just 30 seconds. Thanks!
– January 19, 2012
Rep. Brent Yonts
From today’s Louisville Courier-Journal’s “Kentucky lawmakers weigh execution halt, task force“:
Executions in Kentucky could be halted for a year or more if lawmakers decide to form a task force to study how the system works and correct problems with how death penalty cases are handled, legislators said Wednesday.Members of the House Judiciary Committee said the proposal likely will be dealt with during the current legislative session, but the details of who would be on the task force and how long executions would be delayed remain unresolved.
The task force idea, though, drew the backing of both death penalty supporters and opponents who heard testimony that 64 percent of death sentences in Kentucky since 1976 have been overturned.
“This is too … serious to have this many errors in it,” Rep. Brent Yonts, D-Greenville, a death penalty supporter and committee member, told The Associated Press. “You don’t take people’s lives unless you know what you’re doing.”
The push for a task force came after members of an American Bar Association team presented lawmakers with a summary of a two-year study of Kentucky’s capital punishment system. The study found that state or federal courts overturned the sentences or convictions of 50 of the 78 people sent to death row since the penalty was reinstated in Kentucky in 1976.
The ABA committee, which presented its report in December, faulted how the state handles the severely mentally ill, the preservation of evidence and a lack of safeguards against executing the innocent.
– January 26, 2012
To promote the petition to abolish Kentucky’s death penalty—1,870 signers and counting—the petition’s organizer is making a video. You can help!
Thanks!
– January 24, 2012
Rep. John Tilley
House Judiciary Committee Chairperson Rep. John Tilley (D-Christian and Trigg) has invited members of the ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project to testify before the committee.
We reported in December that this team’s two-year investigation found many severe flaws in the process as practiced in Kentucky and made several unanimous recommendations. One recommendation is that Kentucky stop sentencing people with severe mental illness persons to death. Rep. Darryl Owens (D-Jefferson County) has filed HB 145 which would end this horrific practice.
The committee meets this Weds., Jan. 25, at 12 p.m. in Room 171 of the Capital Annex. Please attend the hearing.
This hearing will be an excellent educational opportunity for lawmakers to hear how broken our system is and why the death penalty undermines the credibility of our entire justice system.
Also, if you have not yet done so, please call 800- 372-7181 and ask the staff person to deliver these messages to two state representatives: Chairperson of the House Judiciary Committee, John Tilley, and your own state representative (you can you can look them up here):
Message for Rep. Tilley: “Please allow a hearing on HB 145 to end the death penalty for severely ill persons as soon as possible.”
Message for your state representative: “Please co-sponsor HB 145 to end the death penalty for severely ill persons and support its passage.”
Photo: Courtesy Kentucky Legislature
– January 24, 2012
The Kentucky General Assembly is back in Frankfort—now is the time to contact legislators and encourage our friends to do the same.
HB 145: Abolish the death penalty for people with severe mental illness
In the State House of Representatives, Rep. Darryl Owens (D-Jefferson County) filed HB 145 to end the death penalty for people who are severely mentally ill at the time the crime is committed. The American Bar Association’s damning assessment of Kentucky’s death penalty specifically recommends abolishing capital punishment for people with severe mental illness.
Please call 800- 372-7181 and ask the staff person to deliver these messages to two state representatives: Chairperson of the House Judiciary Committee, John Tilley, and your own state representative (you can you can look them up here):
Message for Rep. Tilley: “Please allow a hearing on HB 145 to end the death penalty for severely ill persons as soon as possible.”
Message for your state representative: “Please co-sponsor HB 145 to end the death penalty for severely ill persons and support its passage.”
SB 63: Replace the death penalty for all defendants with a maximum penalty of life without parole
In the State Senate, Sen. Gerald Neal (D-Jefferson County) introduced SB 63 to replace the death penalty for all defendants with a maximum penalty of life without parole.
Please call to 800-372-7181 (you can link this call with the one mentioned earlier) and leave a message for State Senator Tom Jensen, chairperson of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Message for Sen. Jensen: “Please allow a hearing on SB 63 in the Judiciary Committee. It is time to end the death penalty in Kentucky.”
Tell your friends
Lastly, please forward this information to your friends, use your personal Facebook page to invite them to get active on the death penalty; tweet your followers, and ask for their help on this important issue.
Please take a moment to invite your friends to help end the death penalty in Kentucky.
– January 19, 2012
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