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AN ACT relat­ing to the fair and reli­able impo­si­tion of cap­i­tal sen­tences.
Be it enact­ed by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky:

SECTION 1. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 532 IS CREATED TO READ AS FOLLOWS:
(1) No per­son shall be sub­ject to or giv­en a sen­tence of death that was sought on the basis of race.
(2) A find­ing that race was the basis of the deci­sion to seek a death sen­tence may be estab­lished if the court finds that race was a sig­nif­i­cant fac­tor in deci­sions to seek the sen­tence of death in the Commonwealth at the time the death sen­tence was sought.
(3) Evidence rel­e­vant to estab­lish a find­ing that race was the basis of the deci­sion to seek a death sen­tence may include sta­tis­ti­cal evi­dence or oth­er evi­dence, or both, that death sen­tences were sought sig­nif­i­cant­ly more fre­quent­ly:
(a) Upon per­sons of one race than upon per­sons of anoth­er race; or
(b) As pun­ish­ment for cap­i­tal offens­es against per­sons of one race than as pun­ish­ment for cap­i­tal offens­es against per­sons of anoth­er race.
(4) The defen­dant shall state with par­tic­u­lar­i­ty how the evi­dence sup­ports a claim that racial con­sid­er­a­tions played a sig­nif­i­cant part in the deci­sion to seek a death sen­tence in his or her case. The claim shall be raised by the defen­dant at the pre-tri­al con­fer­ence. The court shall sched­ule a hear­ing on the claim and shall pre­scribe a time for the sub­mis­sion of evi­dence by both par­ties. If the court finds that race was the basis of the deci­sion to seek the death sen­tence, the court shall order that a death sen­tence shall not be sought.
(5) The defen­dant has the bur­den of prov­ing by clear and con­vinc­ing evi­dence that race was the basis of the deci­sion to seek the death penal­ty. The Commonwealth may offer evi­dence in rebut­tal of the claims or evi­dence of the defen­dant.
SECTION 2. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 532 IS CREATED TO READ AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1 of this Act shall not apply to sen­tences imposed pri­or to the effec­tive date of this Act.
SECTION 3. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 532 IS CREATED TO READ AS FOLLOWS:
Sections 1 to 3 of this Act shall be cit­ed as the Kentucky Racial Justice Act.
UNOFFICIAL COPY AS OF 02/​07/​98 1998 REG. SESS. 98 RS SB 171/​GA