Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Baptist Editor Calls for Abolition of Death Penalty in Texas

Pat Delahanty — Thu, 24 May 2012 12:59:24 +0000

A recent editorial in the Baptist Standard, The Texas Baptist Newsjournal, urges Gov. Rick Perry to place a moratorium on Texas executions and then asks that Texas lawmakers abolish the death penalty in their next session. Written by Marv Knox, who earned a degree from Southern Seminary in Louisville and who edited the Western Recorder [...]

Roberta Galli, longtime KCADP member, passed away

Pat Delahanty — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 01:12:47 +0000

We’re sad to share the news that Roberta Galli, a longtime member of the Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, has passed away. We are grateful for her life and her efforts to abolish the death penalty in Kentucky. In this brief video she shares her reasons for opposition–moral and practical, particularly knowing her [...]

Kentucky House approves death penalty task force; now ask your Senator to vote Yes on HCR 173

Pat Delahanty — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:11:47 +0000

You made a real difference last week! The Kentucky House of Representatives, in a strong bipartisan vote of 73 Yeas and 18 Nays, sent HCR 173 to the Senate for consideration. This legislation creates a Kentucky Death Penalty Reform Implementation Task Force to develop a strategy to implement the reforms recommended by the American Bar [...]

Urgent action needed: call 800-372-7181 and tell Reps. Stumbo and Adkins to bring HCR 173 to a floor vote now

Pat Delahanty — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 15:45:17 +0000

Commonwealth Attorneys are trying to block HCR 173 from a vote on the House floor (they support the death penalty as it allows them to coerce defendants into pleading guilty in exchange for life without parole and not have to risk a trial). Also, certain Democratic House leaders want to put off the vote on [...]

Lexington Herald-Leader slams legislature for failure to reform Kentucky’s broken death penalty

Zach Everson — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:57:51 +0000

From “Legislature’s capital offense,” an editorial in today’s Lexington Herald-Leader: Just before this legislative session began, the American Bar Association released the results of a two-year review of the death penalty in Kentucky. The findings were stark and disturbing. No one who read the report could come away feeling certain that our state had done [...]

You are invited to Witiness to Innocence: From death row to freedom with Shujaa Graham

Pat Delahanty — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:30:53 +0000

Shujaa Graham grew up on a Louisiana plantation in the 1950s. He moved to Los Angeles with his family seeking a better life than the sharecropping he left behind. Instead he was in and out of trouble and behind bars most of his young adult life. Accused of killing a prison guard, Graham spent five [...]

House Judiciary Committee unanimously sends resolution to create death penalty task force to House floor; ask your rep to vote Yes on it

Pat Delahanty — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 14:31:28 +0000

On March 12, the House Judiciary Committee unanimously voted to send HCR 173 to the House floor for a vote. Please call 800-372-7181 now and leave a message asking your state representative to vote yes for HCR 173 when it is considered for passage. This bill creates a task force to develop a plan to [...]

Action needed: Ask your state rep to support HCR 173 to create a Kentucky Death Penalty Reform Implementation Task Force

Pat Delahanty — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:44:32 +0000

Kentucky Rep. Jesse Crenshaw (D-Fayette County) has introduced House Concurrent Resolution 173 (HCR 173) which will create a Kentucky Death Penalty Reform Implementation Task Force to develop a strategy to implement the reforms recommended by the American Bar Association’s Kentucky Death Penalty Assessment Report. Passage of HCR 173 is important so that the General Assembly [...]

Kentucky prosecutors: ‘Ky. capital punishment unfair’

Zach Everson — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:20:33 +0000

“Ky. capital punishment unfair,” an editorial in the Lexington Herald-Leader signed by 11 prosecutors—yes, prosecutors—calls for death penalty moratorium: Of the 78 people sentenced to death in Kentucky since 1976, 50 have had a death sentence overturned on appeal by Kentucky or federal courts because of significant legal errors. That is an unacceptable error rate [...]

Lexington Herald-Leader: ‘Stop executing the mentally ill’

Zach Everson — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:25:11 +0000

From The Lexington Herald-Leader editorial “Stop executing the mentally ill“: The death penalty in Kentucky has come under profound and justified scrutiny. A study by the American Bar Association released in December recommended that Kentucky halt executions until some of the flaws in the system are fixed. We support that caution. The report took particular [...]