Office of the Attorney General
Attorney General Conway Announces Indictment of Convicted Felon For Wrongful Voter Registration

Attorney General Jack Conway and his Special Prosecutions Unit announce the indictment of Stephen Ray Thomason, a convicted felon, on one count of wrongful registration. A Bullitt County Grand Jury returned the indictment against the Shepherdsville man on Friday, Jan. 30.

Thomason will be arraigned in Bullitt Circuit Court on Monday, February 16 at 10 a.m. Wrongful registration, under KRS 124.020, carries a penalty of one to three years in prison.

 The indictment is based on allegations that Thomason pled guilty to a felony charge of homicide in the 1971 death of Eugene Kaufman Sr. in Jefferson County.  On November 16, 1972, Thomason was sentenced to three years in prison. The sentence was probated. Thomason then registered to vote in Bullitt County on January 19, 1973. 

Kaufman’s surviving family members brought the matter to the attention of the State Board of Elections in the fall of 2008. The Office of the Attorney General assisted the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) in confirming that the defendant was indeed a convicted felon who had not had his civil rights restored.

As a result of the Attorney General’s investigation, the AOC notified the State Board of Elections that Thomason was indeed a convicted felon. Thomason has now been removed from Kentucky’s voting rolls. 
 
An indictment is an accusation only. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.