Sen. Matthew Deneen, R-Elizabethtown, sponsored the bill automatically transferring some juvenile cases to adult court. (LRC Public Information)
FRANKFORT — A bill making it easier for Kentucky to try certain juveniles as adults passed out of the Senate Wednesday 25-9-1 after a heated debate.
Under Senate Bill 20 , Kentuckians would be transferred to circuit court for trial as an adult if, among other things, they were at least 15 years old at the time of an alleged crime and used a gun while committing a Class A, B or C felony — whether or not the gun was “functional.”
Speaking on the Senate floor Wednesday, primary sponsor Sen. Matthew Deneen, R-Elizabethtown, said “it is unfortunate that these adult crimes have trickled down to the ages we see them .”
“Currently these types of crimes begin in juvenile court and they work their way up to being referred to adult court,” Deneen said in a Feb. 8 committee meeting . “What Senate Bill 20 says is when you commit this level of crime, this deadly crime, with a gun, that you start in an adult court. But it also provides prosecutorial discretion after consultation with the judge and the county attorney.”