On November 23, Kentucky Public Advocate Ed Monahan and Louisville Metro Chief Public Defender Dan Goyette called on the gov­er­nor and the state’s Attorney General to stay all exe­cu­tions until an assess­ment team formed by the American Bar Association can objec­tive­ly review the state’s death penal­ty. Monahan and Goyette wrote let­ters ask­ing Attorney General Jack Conway not to request any fur­ther exe­cu­tion war­rants and ask­ing Governor Steven Beshear not to sign exe­cu­tion war­rants until the ABA Assessment Team has con­clud­ed its study and issued a final report.

“There are seri­ous and dis­turb­ing ques­tions about the con­vic­tions of a num­ber of inmates fac­ing exe­cu­tion, par­tic­u­lar­ly in those cas­es that were tried years ago by unqual­i­fied lawyers lack­ing ade­quate resources,” Dan Goyette said. ​“We should not pro­ceed with exe­cu­tions until this inde­pen­dent eval­u­a­tion is com­plet­ed and we are assured that due process has been ful­ly and prop­er­ly pro­vid­ed in each and every case. To do oth­er­wise would cast sig­nif­i­cant doubt on the fair­ness and pro­pri­ety of impos­ing the ulti­mate pun­ish­ment. We all have a fun­da­men­tal respon­si­bil­i­ty to avoid at all costs the pos­si­bil­i­ty of mak­ing an unjust and irreversible mistake.”

Ed Monahan added, ​“The error rate in KY cap­i­tal cas­es over the last 33 years is stun­ning and unac­cept­ably high. It is com­pelling evi­dence that indi­cates the sys­tem is bro­ken. This exces­sive rate of error shows that the sys­tem can­not get it right. A mora­to­ri­um will pre­vent the exe­cu­tion of an indi­vid­ual whose con­vic­tion and death sen­tence has been imposed by an unfair and arbitrary system.” 

The press release from the defend­er orga­ni­za­tion not­ed: ​“Since 1967 Kentucky has exe­cut­ed three peo­ple (two were vol­un­teers) and three KY Governors have grant­ed clemen­cy to five peo­ple sen­tenced to death. Since 1976, 92 death sen­tences have been returned in Kentucky state courts. Currently, there are 35 peo­ple on KY’s death row. Of the 50 KY cap­i­tal cas­es that have exhaust­ed review by the Kentucky Supreme Court and the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, 42 have been reversed.” The ABA Assessment Team has begun its review of Kentucky’s law.

(“Public Advocate and Louisville Metro Chief Public Defender Call for Moratorium on Executions while ABA Reviews Administration of Death Penalty in KY,” Department of Public Advocacy Press Release, November 23, 2009). See also Representation or click here for more infor­ma­tion about the death penal­ty in Kentucky. See also Studies.

In a relat­ed action, author Wendell Berry and for­mer Kentucky Poet Laureate Sena Jeter Naslund were among 39 writ­ers also seek­ing a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions in Kentucky. The group wrote let­ters to Kentucky’s gov­er­nor and attor­ney gen­er­al call­ing for a stay of all exe­cu­tions while the entire sys­tem is reviewed. (See Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, Nov. 25, 2009).

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