Lawmakers argued over the morality of the death penalty as they voted on a bill that would allow the Department of Corrections to bypass the formal administrative regulations process in coming up with its execution protocols.
Those regulations have been entangled in lawsuits and legal challenges for years. Executions have been paused across the state after the Kentucky Supreme Court found that the protocols were deeply flawed, including failing to sufficiently screen for mental and intellectual disabilities. As a result, no one has been executed in the state since 2008. Right now, 24 people sit in limbo on death row.
Sponsor Sen. Stephen West, a Republican from Paris, told the committee he believes the bill is about the “rule of law,” not the death penalty. He said the death penalty is the law of the land and the onerous regulation approval process is stopping the state from implementing that law.
“It'll take them 18 months, two years, to bring forth a new regulation that'll come back before the court. And the judge will pick out another item, say ‘This isn't quite correct. Go back to the drawing board,’” West said. “So you have this revolving door of litigation, and so this bill attempts to address that issue.”
Senate Bill 251 would allow the Department of Corrections to create its policies through memos and internal policies with no identified oversight. The bill passed out of committee on a 13-6 vote, with two Republicans joining Democrats to vote against the measure. It can now head to the House floor for final passage.
Rep. James Tipton, a Republican from Taylorsville, told the committee he could not vote for legislation that would expedite the return of executions he feels are immoral. For the fourth time, Tipton filed legislation that would abolish the death penalty. House Bill 588 has not received a hearing.
He said that exonerations from death row prove that courts are fallible, and his faith also tells him even a person convicted of a heinous crime can repent.
“When I say I'm pro-life, I'm pro-life,” Tipton said. “We all sin, we all fall short, and even someone who commits a heinous act, I believe that if they hear the gospel and they accept the gospel, and they confess their sin, and they repent and accept Christ.”
GOP Rep. Savannah Maddox pushed back against the religious argument made during the debate.
She said she didn’t want to debate the merits of the death penalty, but “that it is important to understand that although salvation is available to even the most heinous individuals who've done the worst things, that we still have to face the earthly consequences for our actions.”
West said he agrees exonerations can happen, but they are the exception to the rule, saying he believes most of the people currently on death row in Kentucky have open-and-shut cases.
“None of us wish for any innocent person to be on death row or in prison, for that matter,” West said. “That's its own issue, and that's what you're describing. Maybe a problem with the justice system that needs to be addressed.”
Democratic Rep. Erika Hancock of Frankfort told the committee her grandparents were murdered in their home almost four decades ago, but that the death penalty would not have brought peace to her mother or her family.
“Having somebody executed for heinous crimes feels like it would bring peace, I don't feel that that is the case,” Hancock said. “As long as these heinous offenders are behind bars and are not a danger to society anymore, I definitely do not think we should make it easier for the executions to happen.”
A representative with the Catholic Conference of Kentucky told the committee they oppose the legislation and believe safeguards need to remain in place around the execution protocol and the legislature should not attempt to bypass judicial and legislative review by allowing the Department of Corrections to skip the rulemaking process.
The process to amend or propose new administrative regulations can be lengthy. It requires a public comment period and must go before legislative committees that review regulations before going into effect, unless it’s an emergency. A lawyer with the Attorney General’s office said just one change can take upwards of a year.
GOP Attorney General Russell Coleman has tried repeatedly to reinstate the death penalty, pushing for clarification on the injunction that paused executions and to allow the execution of Ralph Baze, who killed two police officers. The court is still considering the argument. Coleman and Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear have gone back and forth over whether the governor has the ability to okay the execution as litigation continues over the state’s regulations.
Lawmakers in the Senate who opposed the measure said they fear the corrections department has proven itself incapable of creating passable regulations, and therefore can’t be trusted to create an internal policy with little oversight.
West said in the hearing that the policies would not necessarily be available for public review. Instead, lawyers would have to find them through legal discovery.
