Kentucky judge declines, for now, to lift ban on executions

By DYLAN LOVAN
Associated Press

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A Kentucky judge won’t remove an injunction that has blocked executions in the state for more than a decade. Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd said he would hold off on deciding on the ban, because there have been changes to lethal injection regulations. Kentucky has carried out just three executions since 1976, and none since 2008. Attorney General Russell Coleman has pushed for Shepherd to lift the 2010 injunction. Coleman says the victims’ families “have suffered in limbo for long enough.” Coleman says the state’s changes to lethal injection procedures makes the ban moot. Coleman says he will appeal Shepherd’s ruling.