A judge denied a defense motion yesterday to exclude the death penalty as a possible sentence in the case of James H. "Jamie" Barnett Jr., the man charged in the shooting death of Clay City Police Chief Randy Lacy.
Public advocate Marcus Jones sought to remove the death penalty from a jury's consideration because the U.S. Supreme Court agreed in September to consider whether Kentucky's method of executing prisoners is constitutional.
Commonwealth's Attorney Darrell Herald argued that it is premature to remove execution from consideration until the high court issues a ruling.
"Right now the law in Kentucky is that the death penalty is one of the possibilities," Herald said.
Powell Circuit Judge Frank Fletcher denied Jones' motion.
So Barnett, 37, could face the death penalty if convicted of murder. Lacy, 55, had served 22 years in law enforcement and was the only active member of the police force in Clay City.
Lacy arrested Barnett on June 13 on suspicion of drunken driving and put him in the back seat of his police cruiser.
Barnett was handcuffed with his hands in front of him. Police said he was able to reach Lacy's spare handgun while it was lying on a console in the cruiser, according to testimony at a hearing earlier this year.
Whatever the U.S. Supreme Court decides on lethal injection could have implications across the country. At issue is whether the three-drug ****tail used in lethal injection violates an inmate's Eighth Amendment right to not suffer cruel and unusual punishment.
The high court's decision involves two appeals, one of them involving another Powell County case.
Ralph Baze, 52, was scheduled to be executed Sept. 25, but the Kentucky Supreme Court stayed the execution, citing Baze's pending appeals. Baze has been convicted of gunning down Powell County Sheriff Steve Bennett and Deputy Arthur Briscoe, Bennett's brother-in-law, in 1992.
The other appeals case was that of Clyde Thomas Bowling Jr., 54, who was scheduled to be executed in November 2004. His execution was halted in part because of the pending legal challenge to the state's execution method.
Meanwhile, Barnett's trial has been postponed.
The trial had been scheduled to start Jan. 7 in Stanton. But defense attorneys want Barnett to undergo a mental evaluation, and that probably won't be completed before the trial date.
"Once they complete their evaluation, we may ask the court to have him evaluated" at the Kentucky Correctional Psychiatric Center, Herald said.
Fletcher scheduled another pretrial conference for Dec. 19 to get an update on the mental evaluations. No new trial date has been scheduled.

Judge doesn't rule out execution

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