For Immediate Release
Nov. 6, 2002
Contact: Rusty Cheuvront or Terry Sebastian (cell: 502-682-9405) at (502) 564-2611 

Gov. Patton signs execution warrant for Robert Keith Woodall

FRANKFORT, Ky. - Governor Paul Patton today signed a warrant ordering the warden of the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville to carry out the execution of Robert Keith Woodall on Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2002.

Woodall, of Greenville, was convicted in Caldwell Circuit Court for kidnapping, raping and murdering Greenville teenager Sarah Scott Hansen in 1997.

Because the Supreme Court of Kentucky upheld Woodall’s conviction and the Supreme Court of the United States denied his appeal of that decision Oct. 7, 2002, the Kentucky Attorney General’s office requested Patton to signed the death warrant and set an execution date.

Hansen’s death caused Gov. Patton and the Legislature in 1998 to tighten the law regarding treatment and supervision of sex offenders. The provision appeared in Patton’s crime bill and was named for Hansen.

Prior to 1997, Woodall had served less than three and a half years of a five-year sentence for a sex offense in Central City's Green River Correctional Complex. Woodall was released early because of good behavior, but did not complete a voluntary sex offender treatment program.

The “Sarah Hansen” law imposes a 3-year period of conditional discharge following incarceration upon expiration of a sentence or completion of parole. This provision applies to felony sex offenses, unlawful transaction with a minor and use of a minor in a sexual performance committed after July 15, 1998. Failure to comply may result in the prosecutor’s petition to revoke the time remaining on the conditional discharge - sending the offender back to prison.

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