KY court upholds death sentence, AG asks Supreme Court to intervene in another case
The U.S. Court of Appeals on Tuesday upheld a death sentence for a man convicted of killing two people 40 years ago at a Central Kentucky general store.
The move marks a win for Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman, who has made reinstating the death penalty a top priority in recent years, and last month asked the Kentucky Supreme Court to intervene and give the green light to another death penalty case.
In Tuesday’s ruling, a panel rejected an appeal by David Sanders, who was convicted of a double homicide and has been on death row since 1987. He’s appealed his death penalty sentence to several courts since then, and on Tuesday it was rejected by an appeals panel by a vote of 2 to 1.
Meanwhile, on Feb. 6, Coleman asked the Supreme Court to intervene in the death penalty case of a man named Ralph Baze, who was sentenced to death 30 years ago and has been on death row since.
Coleman has urged Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear to sign a death warrant for Baze, which would initiate the state’s first execution since 2008. But Beshear has said he is legally prohibited from signing the warrant — an assertion Coleman contests.
An appeals court in December said it could not intervene in the case and order Beshear to sign the warrant, so Coleman is asking the state’s highest court to step in.
David Sanders’ case
In 1987, Sanders admitted he shot two men at the Boone Variety Store in Richmond.
He walked into the store and purchased orange juice and candy before using the pay phone and leaving. He then returned to the store with a gun and shot the owner in the back of the head. When another customer walked in, Sanders shot him, too, Coleman’s office said.
After Sanders’ initial sentencing, his case yielded four Kentucky Supreme Court decisions, three denials from the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case again, and a federal district court decision, according to the appeals court.
Still, though his death sentence is intact, an execution is not imminent. In fact, Kentucky hasn’t carried out an execution in more than 18 years.
The death penalty in Kentucky
Kentucky’s pause on capital punishment dates back to a 2007 ruling in Baze’s case, when the U.S. Supreme Court heard his appeal and questioned the constitutionality of lethal injection.
The case prompted a seven-month pause on executions nationwide while the highest court considered a ruling.
Lethal injection resumed in many states, including Kentucky, but not for Baze.
Then, in 2010, capital punishment in Kentucky was paused again when Franklin Circuit Judge Phillip Shepherd ruled that executions should be prohibited for several reasons, including the state’s lack of an automatic stay for intellectually disabled death row inmates and changes to lethal injection protocols.
Coleman, just months after he took office in 2024, filed a motion asking the Franklin County Circuit Court to reverse its decision and end Kentucky’s ban on capital punishment.
Coleman argued that in 2024, amended regulations were published by the Kentucky Department of Corrections that ensured the state is in full compliance with Shepherd’s 2010 ruling, and the judge’s earlier concerns are now moot.
Coleman also sent two letters to the governor in 2025 requesting he sign a death warrant for Baze and allow an execution date to be set.
But Beshear denied he was able to sign a death warrant. He said the state lacked access to the drugs necessary to carry out a lethal injection and also needed further clarification on Department of Corrections protocols.
AG takes case to Supreme Court
In December, Coleman’s office asked the Franklin County Circuit Court to clarify that Beshear could sign a death warrant for Baze.
Later that month, Shepherd denied Coleman’s motion, saying that while he understood the victims’ family’s frustrations, the state’s separation of powers could not allow him to intervene.
“Nevertheless, the motion before the court does not present a justiciable controversy that this court has jurisdiction to adjudicate, because it would violate the separation of powers,” Shepherd wrote.
So Coleman is now taking his argument to Kentucky’s highest court.
Coleman’s office filed a writ of mandamus — an extreme measure that claims a government official or body has refused to comply with a mandatory duty — asking the Kentucky Supreme Court to intervene.
Coleman has used the legal maneuver before, when he filed a writ of mandamus against Fayette Circuit Judge Julie Goodman.
A date has not been set for the Kentucky Supreme Court to consider Coleman’s request.
