Attorney General Russell Coleman is urging the U.S Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the death sentence of Karu Gene White, Kentucky’s longest-imprisoned death row inmate, who was convicted in 1980 of a triple homicide.
His statement came after Assistant Solicitor General Elizabeth Hedges encouraged the judges of the appellate court to uphold White’s sentence.
“Karu Gene White committed these horrific murders when I was only three years old,” Coleman said in the statement. “For 40-plus years, the families of the victims have been forced to wait for justice, enduring unacceptable delays and frustrating appeals. It’s far past time for their waiting to be over.”
He continued, “Today, the Office of the Attorney General took the next step to deliver justice. We are asking the Court to respect the jury’s verdict, deny this last-ditch appeal and clear the way for lawful punishment.”
According to records of the Kentucky Department of Corrections, White was sentenced to death on March 29, 1980, in Powell County, for the murder of three Breathitt County residents. On the evening of February 12, 1979, White and two accomplices entered a Haddix, Kentucky store operated by an elderly couple, Charles and Lula Gross, and another man, Sam Chaney. White and his accomplices bludgeoned to death the men and woman. They took a billfold containing $7,000, coins and a handgun. White was arrested on July 27, 1979.
In March of this year, Attorney General Coleman filed a motion with the Franklin Circuit Court to end a nearly 15-year ban on the imposition of the death penalty in Kentucky. His filing followed the publication of amended regulations from Governor Andy Beshear’s Administration that brought the state into full compliance with the court’s 2010 ruling.
In May, the Franklin Circuit Court declined to lift the injunction, and Attorney General Coleman quickly announced his intent to appeal the order.
That appeal remains pending.
By: Tom Latek, Kentucky Today
