Former Kentucky chief justice dies at 99

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WTVQ) – John Palmore, who served three terms as chief justice of the Kentucky Supreme Court, died Tuesday at the age of 99, according to a report in the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Current Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. called Palmore Kentucky’s most influential jurist of the 20th century, according to the published report.

Palmore authored more than 800 opinions, wrote the jury instructions still used in Kentucky civil trials, helped draft the state’s modern penal code and presided over the high court as Kentucky transitioned from county courts to a modern unified system, according to the newspaper report.

Palmore spent 23-years on the state’s highest court. He retired from the bench in 1982.