Law professor speaks on Letcher County sheriff’s possible fate if sentenced to death

LETCHER COUNTY, Ky. ( FOX 56 ) — In a Wednesday court appearance, the death penalty was listed as a possible sentence for Letcher County Sheriff Shawn Mickey Stines.

Death penalty laws vary across the country, but here in Kentucky, professor Ken Katkin said this sentence is an option for murders with aggravating factors.

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“And in this case, the aggravating factor would be that the victim was a judge,” said Katkin, who serves as a professor of law at Northern Kentucky University. “So, if the victim is a public official, that can be one of the aggravating factors that could qualify someone for the death penalty.”

While Kentucky does have the death penalty, Katkin said lethal injection is the only method that’s been allowed in our state.

However, he noted that lawmakers ruled this a cruel and unusual method in 2010, which means the death penalty has been on hold since then.

“Nobody’s actually been executed since 2008, and nobody could be executed unless that moratorium is resolved,” he said. “But people can still be sentenced to death in the meanwhile.”

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Katkin also said people in Kentucky diagnosed with a mental illness prior to committing a crime are exempt from the death penalty.

Although Katkin said he can’t predict if this punishment will be implemented on Stines due to lack of evidence right now, he said it’s very unlikely for execution to be carried out any time soon.

“Even in the years from 1976 to 2010, when the death penalty was being used, it was only used three times in all those years. So, it’s very unusual for people to be executed in Kentucky, even though we do have a death row, and some people get sentenced to it.”

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Stines will appear in court again for a preliminary hearing at 1 p.m. on Oct. 1, in Morgan County.

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