Legislation to abolish the death penalty in Kentucky is once again before state lawmakers. It’s unlikely the measure will be heard in the republican controlled senate.
This isn’t the first time veteran Louisville Senator Gerald Neal has filed legislation to do away with the state’s death penalty. And Neal says he’s waited as long as seven years to clear a bill in the general assembly. “This is one of those kinds of bills cause it has a cultural base to it and change in this area is gonna be difficult,” Neal said.
Neal says he and other death penalty opponents are not willing to let the issue “fall off the front burner.”
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Whitney Westerfield says he’s not ready to move forward with a bill to abolish the death penalty. But, he would consider measures to change how the death penalty is administered. “Other things that are low hanging fruit like the retention of evidence; that’s a no brainer," said Westerfield. "Of course, we should be doing that and that’s a policy reform I don’t mind moving forward.”
Westerfield says he doesn’t anticipate a senate committee vote on the bill to abolish the death penalty, but an informational hearing is a possibility.?
