Entries tagged with “Justin Smith

Policy Issues

Youth

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Victims' Families

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May 03, 2021

Kentucky Prosecutors Drop Death Penalty in Cases That Raised Constitutionality of Capital Punishment for Offenders Aged 18 – 21

Kentucky pros­e­cu­tors have dropped cap­i­tal charges against two defen­dants who had chal­lenged the con­sti­tu­tion­al­i­ty of the death penal­ty for crimes com­mit­ted by offend­ers younger than 21 years old. On April 21, 2021, pros­e­cu­tors announced that they will no longer seek the death penal­ty against Efrain Diaz, Jr. and Justin Delone Smith, two of the three ado­les­cents accused of the 2015 killing University of Kentucky stu­dent Jonathan Krueger. A…

Policy Issues

Intellectual Disability

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Youth

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Mar 26, 2020

News Brief — Kentucky Supreme Court Issues Opinions in Cases Involving Applicability of Death Penalty Based on Intellectual Disability, Age of Defendants

NEWS (3/​26/​20): Kentucky — The Kentucky Supreme Court has issued deci­sions in two cas­es pre­sent­ing sig­nif­i­cant issues con­cern­ing the applic­a­bil­i­ty of the death penal­ty against defen­dants with intel­lec­tu­al dis­abil­i­ty or under the age of…

Policy Issues

Youth

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Sep 26, 2019

Kentucky Supreme Court Hears Arguments on Raising Death-Penalty Eligibility Age

The Kentucky Supreme Court has heard oral argu­ment and will soon decide whether sub­ject­ing youth­ful offend­ers under age 21 to the death penal­ty vio­lates the con­sti­tu­tion­al pro­hi­bi­tion against cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment. On September 19, 2019, the Court heard argu­ment in the government’s appeals of two cap­i­tal cas­es in which a tri­al judge barred coun­ty pros­e­cu­tors from seek­ing the death penal­ty because the defen­dants charged with the mur­ders were younger than age 21 when the…