On December 7, the American Bar Association released a report assess­ing Kentucky​’s sys­tem of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment and call­ing for a halt to exe­cu­tions in the state. The report was pre­pared by the Kentucky Assessment Team on the Death Penalty, which includ­ed law pro­fes­sors, for­mer state supreme court jus­tices, and prac­tic­ing attor­neys. The two-year study rec­om­mend­ed that the state tem­porar­i­ly sus­pend exe­cu­tions until seri­ous issues of fair­ness and accu­ra­cy are addressed. The review report­ed that courts have found an error rate of more than 60 per­cent in the tri­als of those who had been sen­tenced to death. The review also found that at least 10 of the 78 defen­dants sen­tenced to death were rep­re­sent­ed by attor­neys who were sub­se­quent­ly dis­barred. Among the prob­lems iden­ti­fied by the Assessment Team were the absence of statewide stan­dards gov­ern­ing the qual­i­fi­ca­tions and train­ing for attor­neys in cap­i­tal cas­es, and uni­form stan­dards on eye­wit­ness iden­ti­fi­ca­tions and inter­ro­ga­tions. Many of Kentucky’s largest law enforce­ment agen­cies do not ful­ly adhere to best prac­tices to guard against false eye­wit­ness iden­ti­fi­ca­tions and false con­fes­sions, two of the lead­ing caus­es of wrong­ful con­vic­tions nation­wide. Linda Ewald, a law pro­fes­sor at the University of Louisville who co-chaired the assess­ment team, said, ​“We came in to this with no real idea of what we would find. But at the close of our two-year delib­er­a­tions, we were left with no option but to rec­om­mend that the Commonwealth halt exe­cu­tions until the prob­lems we iden­ti­fied are reme­died. This report is real­ly about the admin­is­tra­tion of jus­tice in Kentucky.”

The team praised some of the progress made in the state in recent years to secure full due process: ​“To this end, Kentucky has made sub­stan­tial strides in sev­er­al areas,” includ­ing a statewide pub­lic defend­er sys­tem, a statute allow­ing post-con­vic­tion DNA test­ing and the adop­tion of a Racial Justice Act.

(Press Release, ​“Two Year Assessment of Death Penalty Procedures Prompts Call for Suspension of Executions in Kentucky,” American Bar Association, December 7, 2011). Read full report here. See Representation and Studies.

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