From [HERE] The Kentucky State Senate has given final legislative approval to a bill that would make the Commonwealth the second U.S. state to bar the execution of people with serious mental illness. 

On March 25, 2022, the Republican-dominated body voted 25-9 to pass HB 269, a bill that prohibits the death penalty for defendants diagnosed with any of four specified mental health disorders. The measure overwhelmingly passed the House on February 9 by a vote of 76-19. If signed by Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, Kentucky would join Ohio in exempting severely mentally ill defendants from capital punishment.

Under the bill’s provisions, defendants who had active symptoms and a documented diagnosis of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and/or delusional disorder at the time of the offense would no longer be subject to the death penalty. Defendants seeking to bar capital prosecution under the bill are required to file a motion in the trial court at least 120 days before their scheduled trial date. If the court determines that the defendant meets the statute’s requirements, the case will proceed to a non-capital trial. Unlike a similar measure passed in Ohio in 2021, Kentucky’s law would not apply to those already sentenced to death in the state.