(1) A person is guilty of abuse of a corpse when except as authorized by law he
intentionally treats a corpse in a way that would outrage ordinary family
sensibilities. A person shall also be guilty of abuse of a corpse if that person enters
into a contract and accepts remuneration for the preparation of a corpse for burial or
the burial or cremation of a corpse and then deliberately fails to prepare, bury, or
cremate that corpse in accordance with that contract.
(2) Abuse of a corpse is a Class D felony.
Effective: June 27, 2019
History: Amended 2019 Ky. Acts ch. 60, sec. 1, effective June 27, 2019. -- Amended
2002 Ky. Acts ch. 276, sec. 8, effective July 15, 2002. -- Amended 2000 Ky. Acts ch.
490, sec. 1, effective July 14, 2000. -- Created 1974 Ky. Acts ch. 406, sec. 222,
effective January 1, 1975.
Legislative Research Commission Note (6/27/2019). Section 2 of 2019 Ky. Acts ch. 60
states that the Act, which amended this statute, may be cited as Kristen's Law.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
7
cases (
1 in the last 5 years), 1987–2021 · leading case:
Hoskins v. Maricle, 150 S.W.3d 1 (Ky. 2004).
Hoskins v. Maricle, 150 S.W.3d 1 (Ky. 2004).
· cites it 2× “KRS 525.120(2). The indictments stem from allegations that Appellants shot and killed Ora Curry and Joe Hicks, Jr.”
Sanborn v. Commonwealth, 754 S.W.2d 534 (Ky. 1988).
· cites it 2× “" See also Commentary (1974) to KRS 525.120. Counsel argued that the kidnapping, rape, and sodomy statutes all used the term "person," which means a living, breathing, human being.”
McKinney v. Commonwealth, 60 S.W.3d 499 (Ky. 2001).
· cites it 2× “Abuse of a corpse, KRS 525.120, requires that a person intentionally treat a corpse in a way that would outrage ordinary family sensibilities.”
Smith v. Commonwealth, 722 S.W.2d 892 (Ky. 1987).
“The 1974 Commentary to Chapter 510 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes states that sexual intercourse with a dead body is not penal *894 ized as rape, but the offense is prohibited by the abuse of a corpse statute, KRS 525.120. This issue was never properly presented to the trial…”
Employers Ins. of Wausau v. Martinez, 54 S.W.3d 142 (Ky. 2001).
“115, violating graves; KRS 525.120, abuse of a corpse), but found that the insurance policy provisions did not require a conviction of one or more of these offenses.”
Russell v. Commonwealth, 992 S.W.2d 871 (Ky. Ct. App. 1999).
“2d 892 (1987), the Court recognized the 1974 Commentary to Chapter 510 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes which states that sexual intercourse with a dead body is not penalized as rape, but the offense is prohibited by the abuse of a corpse statute, KRS 525.120. Id. at 893-894 .…”
— Ky. Rev. Stat. § 525.120(2) — 1 case
Hoskins v. Maricle, 150 S.W.3d 1 (Ky. 2004).
“KRS 525.120(2). The indictments stem from allegations that Appellants shot and killed Ora Curry and Joe Hicks, Jr.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.