LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky lawmakers expected an update on the state's judicial system Friday. Instead, a double fatal shooting took the spotlight.
During the 2018 State of the Judiciary address before the Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary, the shooting at the Kroger in Jeffersontown was under discussion.
Chief Justice John Minton delivered the address.
"We've got a lot of work to do," Minton said.
But after the update on Kentucky courts, several other hot topics were under discussion, including last week's double fatal shooting at Kroger.
"The shooter is alleged to have said to the white citizen, 'Don't shoot me. White people don't kill white people,'" explained State Rep. Jason Nemes.
Nemes told the committee the murders of Maurice Stallard and Vickie Jones were motivated by hate.
"You see the shooter shot the grandfather and the lady outside the grocery store not because of who they were as individuals or because of something they have done," he said. "He shot them because they were black."
Gregory Bush is charged with murder and wanton endangerment, but Nemes and fellow Republican Jerry Miller are sponsoring legislation to address a charge a lot of people believe is missing.
"Inexplicably, this crime of murder was not including in the list of crimes that may be treated as hate crimes in the commonwealth of Kentucky," Nemes said. "This bill that Rep. Miller and I advance here rights that wrong."
Nemes and Miller were joined at the table by Jeffersontown Mayor Bill Dieruf, who wants to send a message.
"We need to send a message to those that commit those crimes that this, as a society, is not accepted," Dieruf said. "And we will make sure that you are prosecuted to the maximum amount."
Sen. Gerald Neal is also onboard, but he wants a wider focus.
"It's something that we must do," Neal said. "For instance, if you deal with attempted, if you don't have serious bodily harm associated with certain types of assaults for instance, it doesn't even come under the hate crime legislation."
The hate crime legislation was filed earlier this week.
Related Stories:
- Louisville legislator files bill to add murder to hate crime law
- Accused Kroger killer faces victims' family members in court
- Grand jury indicts man accused of killing 2 at Jeffersontown Kroger
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