FRANKFORT, Ky. (LEX 18) — Attorney General Russell Coleman announced in a press release Friday that his office had returned to the Franklin Circuit Court on Wednesday, looking for the court to rule on its motion to end the state's ban on the death penalty.
According to the release, the Kentucky Supreme Court "opened the door for the Franklin Circuit Court to reach a definitive decision" on the 15-year ban earlier this year.
The use of the death penalty in the state was blocked in 2010 by the court until "certain criteria were met."
A amended capital punishment was adopted in March under the Beshear administration. With this, the release said, the state's police was brought into compliance with the rulings of the Franklin Circuit Court.
“The victims of these brutal crimes and their families deserve the justice that was lawfully delivered by a Kentucky jury – in some cases decades ago,” said Attorney General Coleman. “The seemingly endless delays have inflicted unnecessary pain on these families. We are asking the Court to respect the juries’ verdicts and give these victims and their families the closure they have waited so long for.”
