Several legal author­i­ties and pub­lic offi­cials are call­ing on Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear to sus­pend the death penal­ty pend­ing res­o­lu­tion of the state’s bud­get cri­sis. Kentucky’s pub­lic defend­er sys­tem will exhaust its cur­rent bud­get by May 21 with two months remain­ing in the fis­cal year, forc­ing it to shut down. ​“The bud­get short­fall cre­ates a like­li­hood that coun­sel will be unavail­able or unable to prop­er­ly pro­ceed, there­by jeop­ar­diz­ing pros­e­cu­tions and result­ing in flawed, unre­li­able out­comes, expand­ed lit­i­ga­tion and rever­sal of con­vic­tions,” said Daniel T. Goyette, Chief Public Defender for Jefferson County and an Adjunct Professor at the Brandeis School of Law at the University of Louisville. ​“As a for­mer Commonwealth’s Attorney, I see insur­mount­able legal obsta­cles to pros­e­cut­ing death penal­ty cas­es when the defen­dants are not ade­quate­ly rep­re­sent­ed by coun­sel for any rea­son, includ­ing a bud­get cri­sis,” added Marc S. Murphy, for­mer Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney. ​“The con­sti­tu­tion guar­an­tees an accused defen­dant the right to have effec­tive assis­tance of coun­sel” said Robert G. Lawson, for­mer dean of the University of Kentucky College of Law, who has been exten­sive­ly involved in law reform efforts in Kentucky as prin­ci­pal drafter of the Kentucky Penal Code. ​“We are hear­ing from the peo­ple in the defend­er sys­tem that they are unable to ren­der effec­tive assis­tance due to the bud­get cuts. I sup­port a mora­to­ri­um on exe­cu­tions at this time.”

Former Kentucky Supreme Court Justice James E. Keller of Lexington said: ​“I’m not opposed in prin­ci­ple to the death penal­ty, but at this time I sup­port a mora­to­ri­um on the death penal­ty while the state reviews whether it should be retained, or at least reviews how it has been imple­ment­ed since it has been reinstated.”

Another legal expert, Chase Law School Professor Michael J. Z. Mannheimer, an author­i­ty on fed­er­al death penal­ty cas­es, said, ​“Prosecuting and defend­ing cap­i­tal cas­es caus­es such a drain on pub­lic resources that I believe the death penal­ty to be unwise even in nor­mal times. In the cur­rent eco­nom­ic envi­ron­ment, push­ing ahead with cap­i­tal cas­es and actu­al exe­cu­tions is fis­cal­ly irre­spon­si­ble.”

(Press Release, March 9, 2009; see also B. Musgrave, ​“Public Defenders Seek More State Help,” Lexington Herald-Leader, Mar. 7, 2009). See Costs.

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