Kentucky AG seeks to prevent the ‘worst of the worst’ from receiving parole

Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron (R) on Friday filed a lawsuit arguing that a new state parole board rule that would offer new hearings to more than 40 prisoners serving life sentences would allow the “worst of the worst” to receive “repeat opportunities to walk free.” 

In the legal complaint, filed in Laurel County Circuit Court on behalf of Kentucky crime victims, Cameron and Commonwealth’s Attorney Jackie Steele demanded that a judge invalidate the April directive, which limits the parole board’s ability to order a prisoner to serve out a life sentence at an initial parole hearing. 

Cameron and Steele argued that this rule violates state law and Kentucky’s constitution by depriving “crime victims of due process and dignity” and “obliterating the closure they once had knowing that the prisoners who exacted such personal tragedy on them would remain in prison for life.” 

“The Board, without even considering the rights of these victims, plans to re-open the wounds time had started to heal and subject them to the gut-wrenching experience of another parole eligibility hearing,” the lawsuit added. 

The lawsuit also asserted that the board did not have the legal authority to enact the measure, and also did not follow the normal administrative regulation process under state law, which “requires the regulation to be reviewed by legislators and undergo a public comment period.”

Instead, Cameron and Steele argued that the board “issued its directive covertly without notifying Commonwealth’s Attorneys or the public, including the crime victims.”

In a press release announcing the lawsuit, Cameron’s office said that the rule would grant a new parole hearing to dozens of prisoners ordered to serve out life sentences on charges including murder, rape and kidnapping. 

Cameron said in a statement, “The crime victims and their families affected by this directive have already gone through the excruciating process of one Parole Board hearing, and they were given assurance by the Board that those responsible for carrying out heinous and violent crimes would spend the rest of their lives in prison without the possibility of parole.” 

“This new directive is a startling reversal by the Board that not only disregards the rights of crime victims, but it fails to follow the law,” the state attorney general added. “If the directive is allowed to stand, Kentucky families will be forced to relive these terrible crimes, and a dangerous precedent will be established for how the Parole Board can issue directives and treat crime victims.”

Steele said Friday the board’s decision to adopt the directive without notifying victims or prosecutors was “unacceptable.” 

“The Parole Board reviewed these cases, agreed to the need for a life sentence, and told the victims that these individuals would spend the rest of their lives in prison,” she said. “To reverse course now is unconscionable.”

The Kentucky state parole board told The Associated Press on Friday that it was not able to comment on pending litigation.