Overview
- House Bill 422 has more than 60 co-sponsors across parties and is moving through the legislature after being filed Friday.
- Parole eligibility for life sentences would rise from 25 to 35 years, with an expanded definition of violent offenders.
- The bill would curb early-release mechanisms, including changes to mandatory reentry supervision that preceded Ronald Exantus’s October release.
- Courts would be required to impose consecutive sentences in cases with multiple victims so prison terms do not overlap.
- The proposal narrows use of the not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity defense while retaining guilty-but-mentally-ill and mandated treatment, drawing concern from Kentucky psychologists.