Brian Smith
Attorney General Jack Conway has requested that Gov. Steve Beshear set an execution date for a Harlan man on death row for six murders, four of which were tried in Richmond.
Robert Karl Foley, 53, was sentenced to death in Madison County on April 27, 1994, for the 1989 killings of Kimberly Bowersock, Lillian Contino, Jerry McMillen and Calvin Reynolds, all of Ohio.
The four were killed because Foley believed one of them had reported him to his parole officer for a violation, according to testimony at his trial, which was moved to Madison County from Laurel County.
Foley was on parole for another murder when those killings were committed, according to the letter.
A jury deliberated for three hours in the case before returning guilty verdicts on all four murder charges, according to a 1994 report in the Richmond Register.
He already had been sentenced to death on Sept. 28, 1993, for the Aug. 17, 1991, killings of Rodney and Harry Lynn Vaughn in Laurel County when the Madison sentences were handed down.
Conway’s letter to Beshear states that Foley’s appeals have been denied multiple times, including three petitions for review that were rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The letter seeks to have an execution date set for the Vaughn killings, and notes that litigation is still pending on the sentences handed down in the Madison County trial.
“Litigation in that case continues but is not a legal impediment to execution for murdering the Vaughn brothers,” the letter states.
Foley is being held in the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville, where all death row inmates are housed.
Conway also issued similar letters seeking execution dates for two other men, Ralph Baze Jr. and Gregory Wilson.
“In requesting these death warrants, I am performing my solemn duty as attorney general to enforce the laws of the commonwealth,” Conway said in a news release. “The horrific crimes these men committed have taken an enormous toll on the victims’ families, for whom this may bring closure.”
Brian Smith may be reached at bsmith@richmondregister.com or at 624-6694.
