Ralph Baze

Case details

Ralph Baze was sentenced to death on February 4, 1994.

Timeline

• January 15, 1992 — Authorities from the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office in Toledo, Ohio notified Powell County authorities that they wished to extradite Baze on felony counts.
• January 28, 1992 — Baze returned to his brother-in-law’s house in nearby Bath County, Kentucky.
• January 30, 1992 — Baze returned to his cabin with his wife; Deputy Arthur Briscoe proceeded to Baze’s cabin to arrest him; the shootings occurred.
• January 30, 1992 (evening) — Baze surrendered without incident at 8 p.m. at the home of the former Estill County Sheriff, where he received his Miranda warnings.
• February 4, 1994 — Baze was sentenced to death.
• 12 September 2007 — The Kentucky Supreme Court issued a stay of execution.
• 25 September 2007 — Baze was scheduled for execution.
• April 16, 2008 — The United States Supreme Court affirmed the Kentucky Supreme Court’s decision that the injection protocol does not violate the Eighth Amendment.

Background

Ralph Baze lived in Powell County, Kentucky, in a mountain hollow known as Little Hardwick’s Creek, with his wife.

Some of his other relatives lived on another ridge of the same mountain. His cabin was at the end of a gravel road, heavily wooded on both sides, approximately 1,000 feet up the mountain, in a small clearing that made maneuvering a vehicle very difficult.

By January 1992, Baze was a twice-convicted felon and was wanted in Ohio for felonious assault of a police officer, jumping bail, receiving stolen property, and flagrant non-support.

Baze did not dispute that he shot and killed Powell County, Kentucky Sheriff Steve Bennett and Deputy Arthur Briscoe in 1992 as they attempted to serve an arrest warrant on him, but claimed that the shootings were self-defense.

The offence

On January 30, 1992, a Powell County Deputy, Arthur Briscoe, went to Baze’s home regarding warrants from Ohio and returned with Sheriff Steve Bennett.

Baze used an assault rifle and killed the two police officers.

The account of events at the cabin included:

• Deputy Briscoe heard that Baze was back in town and proceeded to Baze’s cabin to arrest him.
• When Briscoe arrived, Baze was inside; he could hear Briscoe announce his intention to Becky to arrest her husband.
• While Briscoe returned to his cruiser, Baze left the cabin through a trapdoor in the bedroom floor, retrieved his SKS assault rifle from behind the cabin, and then walked around the cabin to inform Briscoe that he would not allow himself to be arrested.
• Wesley McCarty intervened to avoid a confrontation, during which Briscoe put his hand on or near his holster.
• Becky grabbed Briscoe’s arm, and Baze used the opportunity to leave the immediate area.
• Briscoe left in his cruiser to recruit additional officers to effect the arrest.
• Baze gathered his personal belongings and 98 rounds of ammunition and went uphill into the woods.
• He later told the Louisville Courier-Journal that he circled around to hide behind a stump behind the spot where the police would have to leave their cars.
• Deputy Briscoe arrived back first, followed by Sheriff Bennett.
• Both got out of their cruisers with their guns out, came together on the rear driver’s side of Bennett’s cruiser, and had their backs to the woods where Baze was hiding when they turned to engage Becky.
• All agreed that gunfire began at that moment.

The shooting sequence included competing testimony:

• Baze testified that he moved out from behind a large stump and brush pile, unarmed, intending to surrender, but that Briscoe shot him in the leg with a pistol.
• Wesley and Sophie McCarty supported Baze’s version by testifying that Baze stood up without a gun.
• In contrast, Baze’s son-in-law, Greg Profitt, testified that Baze shot first, but he admitted he could not distinguish between rifle and pistol fire.
• Becky Baze testified that Baze shot first, causing Bennett to turn his head back to his right to see where the gunfire was coming from.
• The policemen who were driving up the road to lend support testified that the first 6-10 shots they heard were rifle fire.

After the initial exchange:

• Briscoe and Bennett turned to face the woods and took cover behind the police cruiser on the driver’s side, with Briscoe shooting over the hood and Bennett over the trunk.
• For reasons that were unclear, Bennett moved around the rear of the cruiser and opened the back passenger door as if to get into the back seat, crossing directly into Baze’s line of fire.
• Baze shot Bennett three times in the back.
• Baze then started to walk down the hill towards Briscoe, who continued to shoot at Baze over the hood of the police cruiser until he ran out of ammunition, and Baze was too close to give him time to reload.
• Baze shot Briscoe twice in the back after Briscoe attempted to escape; Wesley McCarty described Briscoe as “staggering away” before he fell on his face.
• Baze approached the fallen officer and, allegedly thinking that he might be reaching for his gun, shot Briscoe in the head at pointblank range.
• Baze picked up the weapons and ammunition and fled on foot to adjoining Estill County.

Investigation

When Baze surrendered at 8 p.m. at the home of the former Estill County Sheriff, he received his Miranda warnings.

After overhearing a query over the radio as to whether the arresting officer had the correct suspect, Baze responded: “You tell them that you got the right man. I’m the one that killed them son-ofa-bitches.”

Arrest

Ralph Baze was arrested the same day in Estill County.

Trial

Baze was tried in Rowan County.

He was convicted and sentenced to death in February 1994 for shooting the officers.

Sentencing

Baze was sentenced to death on February 4, 1994.

Appeals

Baze sued the Kentucky State Department of Corrections along with fellow inmate Thomas Clyde Bowling Jr. to challenge their impending execution.

Baze and Bowling sued on the grounds that execution by lethal injection under the “cocktail” prescribed by Kentucky law constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 8th Amendment.

Baze’s court case was Baze v. Rees.

Baze was scheduled for execution on 25 September 2007, but on 12 September 2007, he was issued a stay of execution by the Kentucky Supreme Court.

The United States Supreme Court agreed to hear his appeal.

On April 16, 2008, the Court affirmed the Kentucky Supreme Court’s decision that the injection protocol does not violate the Eighth Amendment.

Outcome

Baze remained sentenced to death after the United States Supreme Court affirmed the Kentucky Supreme Court’s decision on the lethal injection protocol.

Other details

Victims: Sheriff Steve Bennett; Deputy Arthur Briscoe.

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