Former Kentucky Supreme Court Chief Justice John S. Palmore, who helped shape the state's modern unified justice system, has died. He was 99.
Harrod Brothers Funeral Home owner Will Harrod said Palmore died Tuesday morning.
Media reported that Palmore chaired a commission that drafted Kentucky's criminal code, authored more than 800 published opinions and wrote a manual on jury instructions that are still used in courtrooms today. In addition, he helped adopt and implement judicial reforms in the 1970s that brought about the state's current judicial system.
Current Chief Justice John D. Minton Jr. called Palmore "a towering figure in Kentucky law" because he did so much to shape it.
Palmore was a prosecutor before being elected in 1959 to serve on the Kentucky Court of Appeals. He served as chief justice on the Supreme Court from 1977 until he retired in 1982.
