Commonwealth v. Phon

LAMBERT, Chief Justice.

The issue here is whether a sentence of life without parole may be imposed for a capital offense even though that penalty did not exist at the time the crime was committed.1 To decide this matter, it is first necessary to resolve the apparent conflict between two statutes: 1) KRS 446.080(3), which mandates that retroactive application of a statute be expressly stated, and 2) KRS 446.110, which allows mitigating provisions of new laws to be applied retroactively if the affected party consents. Thereafter, it will be necessary to determine whether the sentence of life…