Stanford v. Commonwealth

OPINION

VANMETER, Judge.

In 2005, the United States Supreme Court held that persons who commit capital crimes when they are under the age of eighteen are not subject to the death penalty. The issue we must decide in this case is whether Kevin Stanford, a juvenile at the time of his crimes in 1981 and whose death sentence was commuted to life in prison without possibility of parole in 2003, is entitled to a new sentencing hearing. We hold that he is not and therefore affirm the Jefferson Circuit Court.

In 1982, a jury convicted Kevin Stanford of murder, robbery first degree, and sodomy first…