State & Federal
Kentucky
Timeline
1868 - Susan Eliza is the last child to be hanged in Kentucky at thirteen years old. She was the last female executed by Kentucky.
1928 - Kansas sequentially executes seven men by electrocution.
1936 - Rainey Bethea is executed by hanging in the last public execution in American with as many as 20,000 witnesses.
1938 - Kentucky abolishes hangings after Rainey Bethea’s public execution.
1974 - Kentucky enacts a new capital sentencing statute calling for a mandatory death sentence for those convicted of murder.
1976 - The Kentucky legislature repeals the mandatory death penalty statute. The Commonwealth’s current death penalty statute goes into effect.
1989 - In Stanford v. Kentucky, the U.S. Supreme Court holds that the imposition of capital punishment on an individual for a crime committed at 16 or 17 years old does not violate the 8th amendment as cruel and unusual punishment.
1998 - Kentucky adopts the Racial Justice Act, allowing judges to consider whether racial bias played a role in the decision to seek or impose the death penalty.
2002 - Larry Osborne, the youngest man on Kentucky’s death row, is acquitted of a crime for which he was wrongfully convicted at 17 years old.
2008 - In Baze v. Rees, the U.S. Supreme Court holds that Kentucky’s four-drug lethal injection process does not violate the 8th amendment.
2011 - Kentucky turns over their supply of sodium thiopental, a drug used in lethal injections, to the DEA after Georgia’s supply was seized based on the questionable legality of how it was imported. Kentucky obtained its supply from CorrectHealth, a private Georgia correctional health company.
2014 - Kentucky drops its proposed use of a two-drug execution method, including midazolam and hydromorphone, after Ohio and Arizona’s use of midazolam in a two-drug protocol resulted in two prolonged executions where the inmates where reportedly gasping after being injected.
2018 - The Kentucky Supreme Court strikes down the Commonwealth’s death penalty intellectual disability law which requires proof of an IQ score of 70 for a capital defendant to be found ineligible for the death penalty. The court found that a fixed 70-IQ cutoff score is incompatible with the diagnostic framework of the medical community.
2019 - Eugene “Red” Mitchell is acquitted of capital murder and related charges after spending nearly six years in jail due to his inability to afford bail.
2019 - Before leaving office, Governor Matt Bevin commutes the sentences of Gregory Wilson and Leif Halvorsen, two of the state’s longest serving death row prisoners, to life without parole.
2022 - Kentucky becomes the second state in the U.S. to bar imposing the death penalty on defendants diagnosed as severely mentally ill.
Famous Cases
Rainey Bethea, executed August 14, 1936 at Owensboro, Kentucky, was the last public execution in America. He was publicly hanged for rape on August 14, 1936 in a parking lot in Owensboro, Kentucky (to avoid damage to the courthouse lawn by thousands of people who were expected to attend). Bethea, who was black, confessed to the rape and murder of a 70-year-old white woman named Lischia Edwards but he was never charged with murder. Murder was punishable by death in the electric chair at Eddyville while rape was punishable by public hanging in the county where the rape occurred. Prosecutors opted to go with the rape charge only. The spectacle that attended the hanging contributed to the end of public executions in the United States.
Kevin Stanford is one of three juvenile offenders sentenced to death in Kentucky since the Commonwealth brought back capital punishment in 1975. Sentenced to death for a January 1981 murder committed when he was 17 years old, Stanford’s case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which — in a 5-4 vote — upheld the use of the death penalty against offenders aged 16 or 17. In 2003, Governor Paul Patton commuted Stanford’s death sentence to life without possibility of parole. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Stanford v. Kentucky in 2005, ruling in Roper v. Simmons that the application of the death penalty against offenders younger than age 18 constituted cruel and unusual punishment. The Kentucky Supreme Court had previously overturned the conviction of Todd Ice, who was 15 years old when he charged with the December 1978 murder of a seven-year-old girl. On retrial, Ice was convicted of a lesser offense.
Notable Exonerations
Larry Osborne — then the youngest person on Kentucky’s death row — was acquitted upon retrial in July 2002 for the December 1997 murders of two people. Osborne was 17 at the time of his arrest. The 1998 conviction and death sentence was overturned by a unanimous vote of the Kentucky Supreme Court and a new trial was ordered.
Milestones in Abolition/Reinstatement
In 1880, Kentucky abolished public hanging. In 1920, Kentucky restored public hanging for rape and provided that the sentence was to be carried out in the county where the rape occurred, although prisoners condemned for murder were executed in prison in the electric chair.
In 1938, Kentucky abolished hanging after as many as 20,000 people witnessed the August 14, 1936 hanging of Rainey Bethea (see above).
In 1974, two years after Furman v. Georgia, Kentucky enacted a new capital sentencing statute, Ky. Rev. Stat. § 532.030(1) (1974), that went into effect January 1, 1975. The statute called for a mandatory death sentence for those convicted of murder. The three prisoners sentenced to death under that statute had their death sentences overturned when the U.S. Supreme Court declared mandatory death sentences unconstitutional on July 2, 1976.
In a special legislative session in December 1976, the Kentucky legislature repealed the mandatory death penalty statute and enacted the Commonwealth’s current death penalty statute, which took effect on December 22, 1976.
Kentucky “Firsts”
Kentucky adopted the Racial Justice Act on February 5, 1998, allowing judges to consider whether racial bias played a role in the decision to seek or impose the death penalty.
Other Interesting Facts
Kentucky holds the record for the most judicially authorized executions in a single day: on July 13, 1928 seven men were sequentially electrocuted in “Old Sparky” (the nickname given to the electric chair in Eddyville).
Kentucky has not executed a female in more than 150 years. On February 7, 1868, Kentucky executed a 13-year-old black girl, identified only as “Susan.” The youngest person (whose age is known) executed in the state was an enslaved 12-year-old boy named Bill who was hanged on July 30, 1791.
Resources
- Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty
- American Bar Association Kentucky Death Penalty Assessment
- Department of Corrections
- Prosecutors Advisory Council
- Department of Public Advocacy
- Victims’ services
- See Roberta M. Harding, Kentucky: Life and Death in Kentucky: Past, Present, and Future, Kentucky Law Journal On-Line, vol. 102 (2013-2014).
Kentucky Execution Totals Since 1976
News & Developments
News
Jan 12, 2024
State Legislative Roundup: New Legislation on the Death Penalty
The first month of 2024 marks the start of new legislative sessions for many states and a number of new proposals pertaining to the death penalty.
Read MoreNov 02, 2023
Under Recent State Legislation, Courts in Ohio and Kentucky Rule Four Men Ineligible for Execution Due to Serious Mental Illness
Though the Supreme Court has ruled that the Constitution forbids the death penalty for a person who is “insane” at the time of execution, it has never held that the execution of people with serious mental illness is unconstitutional. Experts have found that two in five people executed between 2000 and 2015 had a mental illness diagnosis such as bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, or PTSD. Since 2017, at least eleven states have attempted to strengthen protections for vulnerable prisoners by introducing bills barring the execution of those with serious mental illness…
Read MoreApr 14, 2022
Kentucky Becomes Second State to Bar Imposing Death Penalty on Those Diagnosed as Seriously Mentally Ill
Kentucky has become the second state in the U.S. to bar imposing the death penalty on those diagnosed as seriously mentally ill. On April 8, 2022, Governor Andy Beshear (pictured) signed HB 269 into law, as Kentucky joined neighboring Ohio in exempting severely mentally ill defendants from capital punishment.
Read MoreMar 29, 2022
Kentucky Legislature Passes Bill Prohibiting Death Penalty for People with Serious Mental Illness
The Kentucky State Senate has given final legislative approval to a bill that would make the Commonwealth the second U.S. state to bar the execution of people with serious mental illness.
Read MoreFeb 23, 2022
Kentucky and South Dakota Advance Bills to Bar Death Penalty for People with Severe Mental Illness
Bills that would exempt individuals with severe mental illness from the death penalty have taken major steps forward in the Kentucky and South Dakota legislatures. The Kentucky House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly (76 – 19) on February 9, 2022, to advance its severe mental illness exemption, HB 269, to the state senate. The South Dakota Senate followed on February 22, voting 21 – 14 to pass SB 159. Both bills have Republican sponsors and received bipartisan support.
Read MoreJan 13, 2022
New Study: Kentucky Death Penalty Racially Biased, Arbitrary, Error Prone
Kentucky’s death penalty is racially discriminatory, geographically arbitrary, and riddled with systemic flaws, a new study of the commonwealth’s use of capital punishment has found.
Read MoreMay 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 third co-defendant, Roman Gonzalez, is not eligible for the death penalty because he was under 18 at the time of the crime.
Read MoreMar 03, 2021
With Overwhelming Bipartisan Support, Kentucky House Passes Bill to Ban Death Penalty for Defendants with Serious Mental Illness
In an overwhelming bipartisan vote, the Kentucky House of Representatives has approved a bill that would prohibit the death penalty for people with severe mental illness. On March 1, 2021, the House voted by a margin of 75 – 16 to pass HB 148. The bill received the support of 56 Republicans and 19 Democrats in Kentucky’s Republican-dominated legislature.
Read MoreApr 24, 2020
Federal Judge Orders Jury Trial on Claim that Kentucky Exoneree Who Was Threatened With Death Penalty Was Framed for Murder
A federal judge has ruled that a civil rights lawsuit against a detective who allegedly framed a Kentucky woman for a murder she was physically incapable of committing may proceed to a jury trial.
Read MoreFeb 28, 2020
Legislative Roundup — Recent Legislative Activity as of February 28, 2020
Virginia — The House Health, Welfare, and Institutions Committee voted 13 – 9 on February 25 to approve a bill that would make the identity of any entity that provides execution drugs public information. SB 270 passed the Virginia Senate by a 22 – 18 vote on February 4. It can now be considered by the full House of Delegates.
Read MoreFeb 24, 2020
Report: Failure to Implement Reforms Undermines Legitimacy of Kentucky’s Death-Penalty System
Nine years after an American Bar Association (ABA) study identified systemic deficiencies in Kentucky’s administration of its death-penalty laws, a new report by past and current Kentucky public defenders charges that the Commonwealth’s failure to take any meaningful remedial action undermines the legitimacy of capital punishment in the state.
Read More