State Senator urges Governor to sign death warrant on inmate on death row
(ABC 36 NEWS NOW) — Kentucky has not had an execution since 2008, and executions have been on hold in Kentucky since 2010, when Franklin Circuit Judge Philip Shepherd began a review of the state’s lethal injection protocol, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Currently there are 25 inmates on death row.
“Justice should be swift, it should be fair, but in the end of it, it needs to be carried out,” says Kentucky State Senator Brandon Smith, who is urging Governor Andy Beshear to sign a death warrant for an inmate on death row. Ralph Baze was sentenced to death in 1994, for the murders of two law enforcement officers.
Three decades later, and Baze remains in prison.
“It’s time for us to carry out the duties of which we’re sworn to do, and so, that starts at the governor’s office. This is what he has to do. And so I think that, he needs to step up and fulfill the duties that we expect of him,” added Smith.
Also saying that, it’s time for the families to receive some type of closure.
I’d like to see us have a more efficient process for it. Nobody wants to see another person lose their life. I think that’s one of the, the most difficult things that any of us that, take the oath of office ever have to, to encounter… Justice should be fair and it should be swift,” added Smith.
During Thursday’s Team Kentucky update, ABC 36 News Now asked the governor what message he had for the senator and families who continue waiting for justice.
“The last order that came from the Franklin Circuit Court, the court that has stayed, any future, executions, capital punishment, in Kentucky, said a number of things. But one of its holdings was we did not have a regulation that would be necessary before, signing any death warrant. So that regulation is going through the process right now,” said Governor Andy Beshear.
But Smith says, “he was pointing to a reg (regulation) that does not apply to this particular case.”
Back in 2023, when governor Andy Beshear ran for re-election, during a debate, Beshear was asked about expanding the death penalty in the commonwealth, he responded he believed this law needed to continue to be on the books, and referred to a case which he described as heinous and said he believed deserved the death penalty.
“The governor’s made these comments before, but now’s the time to find out if he’s really gonna carry them out,” said Senator Smith.
