February 20
SOUTH DAKOTA:
South Dakota Death Penalty Exemption Fails Twice
Most of the bills which have been introduced this year are now starting to see
action in the committees and on the floor. Several of the bills which I
prepared and introduced have now been resolved one way or the other.
As I told you last week, SB71, which prohibited using the death penalty for
individuals who were severely mentally ill, failed in the Senate Judiciary
Committee by a 4 to 3 vote. However, we were able to get enough votes on the
floor of the Senate to “smoke out” the bill which forces the committee to
report the bill to the floor. However, on the floor, the bill failed again by a
vote of 21 to 12.
(source: Sen. ART RUSCH R-District 17 (Vermillion) ---- Yankton Daily Press &
Dakotan)
WYOMING:
Wyoming death penalty kept alive after Senate rejects repeal effort
An effort to end the death penalty in Wyoming was shot down in the Legislature
on Thursday.
After making it through the House by a relatively comfortable margin, House
Bill 145 was defeated on its 1st reading in the state Senate on a 12-18 vote.
Park County’s senators split on the bill, with Sen. R.J. Kost, R-Powell, voting
to repeal the death penalty and Sens. Hank Coe, R-Cody, and Wyatt Agar,
R-Thermopolis, voting to keep it on the books.
Prosecutors opposed the repeal, with Park County Prosecuting Attorney Bryan
Skoric urging Coe to vote against the “bad bill.”
“Wyoming has had cases that warrant the death penalty, and Wyoming will have
cases in the future that warrant the death penalty,” Skoric said in an email.
“That is why the law should remain.”
While the death penalty is rarely imposed in Wyoming, prosecutors more often
use it as leverage when attempting to negotiate plea deals in murder cases.
Sen. Brian Boner, R-Douglas, laid out the arguments for HB 145 during a floor
debate Thursday, focusing on the financial cost for the state, the moral issues
with giving government that much power over its citizens and the real
possibility of executing an innocent person.
“This is something we have to get right each and every time,” Boner said. While
saying the U.S. has an excellent legal system, he noted that 164 people on
death row have been exonerated since 1973.
“... If that number was one, that would be enough to give me pause. But it’s
not — it’s 164 people who were falsely convicted and sentenced to death,” Boner
said.
Other senators who supported the bill tried to focus the debate on both the
financial cost of keeping the death penalty bill on the books and the mental
cost placed on juries who have to make that life-or-death decision.
Even without anyone currently on the state’s death row, bill sponsor Rep. Jared
Olsen, R-Cheyenne, said local and state government would be saving by not
having to staff attorneys and other experts for the potential of a death
penalty case. The fiscal note for HB 145 estimated the state would save
$756,035 in 2020.
Since 1976, Wyoming has only executed one person: Mark Hopkinson, who was put
to death in 1992. One inmate, Dale Wayne Eaton, had his death sentence
overturned in 2014. Boner said if prosecutors try to pursue death for Eaton
again, the Wyoming public defender’s office expects it will need to spend
around $2.1 million to defend the man.
However, Skoric argues that having the death penalty on the books actually
saves the government money — and he said the fact that death penalty cases “get
unnecessarily stalled in the federal courts for decades is no reason to throw
in the towel on appropriate justice.”
“Hopefully next year, some legislators will actually do their homework on this
subject and not just hide behind the usual flavor of the day, which is ... it
will save [money] to get rid of it,” Skoric added. “Deterrence should not be
lessened and community safety and justice should not be cheapened.”
Many opponents of the bill argued that the death penalty helps ensure justice
for victims and their families. But some arguments centered around the
religious impact of the death penalty.
“The greatest man who ever lived died via the death penalty for you and for me.
I’m grateful for him for a future hope because of this,” said Sen. Lynn
Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, who voted to keep capital punishment. “Governments were
instituted to execute justice. If it wasn’t for Jesus dying via the death
penalty, we would all have no hope.”
In contrast, Sen. Stephen Pappas, R-Cheyenne, cited his Christian faith in
arguing for a repeal; he said that, when someone is put to death, they lose
their chance to change and repent.
Boner described his support for ending the death penalty as stemming from his
pro-life beliefs, but one of his anti-abortion colleagues had a different take.
“I find it disheartening in America that, on the one hand, we’re saying it’s OK
to sentence innocent children to death up to the day of birth for being an
inconvenience and yet all the while we’re seeing a push across this country to
spare the lives of convicted rapists, murderers and pedophiles,” said Sen. Bo
Biteman, R-Ranchester. “I find it backwards and I would much rather we abort
the murderers, rapists and pedophiles. We need to get our priorities straight
in this country.”
Under Wyoming law, only 1st-degree murder can be punished by execution — and
only if at least 1 “aggravating circumstance” is present.
Another opponent of the bill, Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, said the death
penalty remains a strong deterrent for crime and something that can provide
closure for victims. He also argued that some of the push to end the death
penalty comes from the “prison industry” wanting to grow the prison population
and make more money.
Boner said he was disappointed with the result, but noted the bill had gotten
farther than any previous attempt to repeal capital punishment in Wyoming.
Skoric said he was surprised by how much traction the effort gained this year,
adding that he thinks the “vast majority of people in Park County still support
the death penalty.”
Sabrina King, policy director for the ACLU of Wyoming, said the organization
was “immensely disappointed” with the Senate’s decision to keep the death
penalty.
“We will continue fighting and look forward to the day we end this disgrace of
a practice in our state,” King said.
In a Thursday night Facebook post, Sen. Kost said his decision to vote for an
end to the death penalty was not easy, noting the Senate’s lengthy debate.
“... I don’t think anyone felt great about the final decision,” he wrote,
“because we value and respect the thoughts and decisions of each side.”
(source: The Powell Tribune)
MONTANA:
Montana lawmakers hear bill abolishing death penalty
A bill to abolish the death penalty in Montana got its 1st hearing Monday.
House Bill 350, sponsored by Rep. Mike Hopkins, R-Missoula, seeks to replace
Montana’s death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole.
At the hearing, Hopkins said a court order out of Lewis and Clark County barred
Montana from executing inmates on death row, citing the barbiturate the state
used was not fast acting. Because of that, Hopkins said, inmates on death row
cost the state more money to keep them there.
“It is another form of life in prison that just so happens to cost the state of
Montana a lot more money than regular life in prison without the possibility of
parole,” Hopkins said.
There are two inmates on death row at the Montana State Prison, according to
the bill’s fiscal note. The last execution in the state happened in 2006, and
was estimated to cost the state $49,500.
The committee did not take immediate action on the bill.
Supporters of the bill included human rights advocates, religious groups and
the public defender’s office. They argued the death penalty was unjust and
fiscally irresponsible.
Peter Ohman, lobbyist for the Office of the Public Defender, said he supported
the bill for two reasons: money and resources.
Ohman said finding attorneys to represent people accused of a crime that could
carry the death penalty is difficult, especially in rural parts of the state.
He said 2 cases the office is working on now cost the state more than $1
million over a biennium.
“Removal of the death penalty would save our office quite a bit of money,”
Ohman said.
SK Rossi, lobbyist for American Civil Liberties Union of Montana, said the
death penalty is a “monstrous version of government overreach in theory, and is
unreliable and unfair in practice.” Rossi said a person’s chance of being
executed increases if they’re not white, not wealthy or not mentally sound.
“The only way to guarantee a fair system that does not put innocent people to
death is to abolish capital punishment completely,” Rossi said.
(source: The Fairfield Sun Times)
ARIZONA:
Prosecutors to seek death penalty in Murillo case----Defendant is accused of
the 1st-degree murder of NPD Officer Jesus Cordova
County prosecutors have formally declared their intent to pursue the death
penalty against David Ernesto Murillo, the man accused of the 1st-degree murder
of Nogales Police Officer Jesus Cordova.
Chief Deputy County Attorney Liliana Ortega filed the notice at Santa Cruz
County Superior Court on Feb. 14, 5 days prior to a deadline that had already
been extended from last Dec. 21.
County Attorney George Silva declined to comment on why his office ultimately
decided to seek to punish Murillo with death.
“I cannot discuss any aspect of this case until the matter has concluded,”
Silva told the NI on Tuesday afternoon.
Cordova’s wife, Alyssa, also declined to comment on the decision.
Murillo, 28, is charged with 30 felony counts stemming from a crime spree on
April 27, 2018 that began with the attempted armed robbery of a taxi driver,
followed by at least 5 carjackings or attempted carjackings. He reportedly
killed 44-year-old Cordova by opening fire with an AR-15 rifle after the
officer tried to pull him over near the intersection of Grand Avenue and Mesa
Verde Drive.
Arizona law requires that when a state prosecutor files a notice of intent to
seek the death penalty, he or she must also provide the defendant with a list
of aggravating circumstances that the state intends to prove during the
aggravation phase of the trial. In accordance with that requirement, the notice
filed by Ortega states that by that point in the proceedings, Murillo will have
been convicted of a number of serious crimes.
In addition, she wrote, Cordova was killed while performing his official
duties, and “the defendant knew or should have known that the murdered person
was a peace officer.”
This is the 1st time the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office has sought the
death penalty in a murder case since Silva took office in 2005.
It wasn’t immediately clear when county prosecutors last noticed a death
penalty case, but in 1983, Ramon Martinez Villarreal, a Mexican national, was
sentenced to death in Santa Cruz County for murdering two men at the Salero
Ranch near Tubac. Questions about his mental health, however, kept him from
being executed.
Death penalty cases are time consuming and cost intensive, which can be a
deterrent for prosecutors in small counties with limited staffs and budgets,
like Santa Cruz. Such cases also bring additional costs for the court system,
which must supply indigent defendants with two death penalty-certified lawyers,
as well as an investigator.
A hearing in the Murillo case is set for Monday, Feb. 25 with Superior Court
Judge Thomas Fink.
(source: nogalesinternational.com)
****************
Prosecutors to seek death penalty for David Ernesto Murillo
Prosecutors in Santa Cruz County filed a notice to seek the death penalty for
David Ernesto Murillo on Thursday, Feb. 14.
Murillo is accused of killing Nogales Police Officer, Jesus Cordova in April
2018.
His charges include 1st degree murder, attempted 1st degree murder, multiple
charges of aggravated assault, armed robbery, kidnapping, burglary, criminal
damage, fleeing law enforcement, and illegally firing a weapon.
David Ernest Murillo is scheduled to appear in court for a status conference on
Feb. 25, 2019.
(source: KOLD news)
USA:
Death-Penalty Repeal Efforts Across U.S. Spurred by Growing Conservative
Support
Bills to repeal and replace the death penalty with non-capital punishments have
gained new traction across the United States in 2019 as a result of opposition
to the death penalty among ideologically conservative legislators. That
movement – buoyed by fiscal and pro-life conservatives, conservative law-reform
advocates, and the deepening involvement of the Catholic Church in
death-penalty abolition – has led to unprecedented successes in numerous houses
of state legislatures and moved repeal efforts closer to fruition in a number
of deeply Republican states. In 2019, conservative legislators are leading the
call for death-penalty abolition in conservative-leaning states such as
Wyoming, Montana, and Kentucky, and playing a critical role in bipartisan
efforts to repeal or reform capital punishment in Virginia and New Hampshire.
The surprise strength of a death-penalty repeal bill in Wyoming is emblematic
of the growing Republican abolition movement. There, in an overwhelmingly
Republican legislature, a bill to replace the death penalty with life without
parole garnered significant support from both parties and passed the state
house and a senate committee before falling short in the full senate. In
Kentucky and Montana, Republican legislators have introduced abolition
legislation and are attempting to build coalition support, and in Virginia, the
Republican-controlled state Senate passed a bill to ban the death penalty for
people with severe mental illness. Conservatives have said they oppose capital
punishment because of pro-life beliefs, a desire to reduce government spending,
and the lack of deterrent effect. In New Hampshire, a bill to abolish the death
penalty passed the legislature with bipartisan support, but was vetoed in 2018.
The legislature has renewed bipartisan repeal efforts in 2019.
The Wyoming House of Representatives voted (36-21) on February 1 to pass HB
145, a bill to abolish the death penalty. The bill garnered the support of a
majority of House Republicans, all the house Democrats who voted, and the
chamber’s lone Independent. It then unanimously passed the
Republican-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee on February 13, before being
defeated in the full Senate by a vote of 12-18. In the Senate, nine Republicans
and all three Democrats voted in favor of abolition. The bill was introduced by
Republican Rep. Jared Olsen of Cheyenne with Republican and Democratic
co-sponsors in both houses. Senate co-sponsor Brian Boner (R – Converse) said,
“We have an obligation to have a justice system that is blind and based on
facts, and not based on what we wished it was or what it used to be.” Olsen
said he was concerned about the number of exonerations from death row. “It is
way too much authority to vest in our government, and we get it wrong,” he
said. Concerns about costs convinced Sen. Bill Landen (R – Casper) to vote for
abolition. "I finally decided that I can't go home and feel good about
explaining to people all of those myriad of cuts we've made to the state budget
and then defend expenditures like this, which have gone on for years and years
and years," he said. Wyoming spends an estimated $750,000 per year on legal
costs associated with the death penalty, but has not executed anyone since 1992
nor imposed a death sentence since 2004.
Kentucky House Majority Whip Chad McCoy (R – Nelson) said he hopes to get
support for his abolition bill from Catholic legislators who have a moral
opposition to the death penalty, as well as fiscal conservatives who see it as
a costly, ineffective government program. “When you talk about death penalty, a
lot of people immediately want to have a criminal justice angle on it or a
morality angle. And mine is purely economics,” he said. Kentucky also rarely
uses the death penalty. Its last execution was in 2008 and its last death
sentence was in 2014. State Representative Mike Hopkins, R-Missoula, the
sponsor of Montana’s bill to replace the death penalty with life in prison
without the possibility of parole, told a House committee on February 18 that
the state’s death penalty was simply ineffective. The t2 people sentenced to
death in the state have been on death row for thirty years, he said, and “there
is no logical measurement that 30 years equals a death sentence. … Regardless
of how you feel because of capital punishment, nobody is dying from it.”
(source: Death Penalty Information Center)
*******************
Wife of Pittsburgh rabbi: No death penalty for antisemitic shooter----The evil
of the shooter who took their lives is beyond human reckoning. And yet, I hope
the prosecutors do not pursue the death penalty.
3 congregants from our New Light Congregation — Dan Stein, Mel Wax and Rich
Gottfried — were among the slain. My husband, Rabbi Jonathan Perlman, was in
the room where they were killed, hiding alongside 2 others.
Dan, Mel and Rich were all past presidents of the synagogue; all regularly read
the haftarah and led prayers. They were all incredibly generous with their time
and were pillars of the synagogue.
Dan, 71, had wanted to be a translator for the United Nations when he was young
and had spent time in South America. Rich, 65, not only volunteered for the
synagogue but gave his professional services as a dentist to patients who could
not pay. Mel, a retired accountant, did some people’s taxes for free and had
helped many residents of his apartment building register to vote.
The synagogue feels emptier these days without their presence and commitment.
The evil of the shooter who took their lives is beyond human reckoning. And
yet, I hope the prosecutors do not pursue the death penalty.
When Jews are killed just for being Jewish, we commemorate them with the words
“Hashem yikom damam,” may God avenge their blood. This formulation absents us
from the equation since it expresses that it is God’s responsibility, not ours,
to seek ultimate justice. As humans, we are incapable of meting out true
justice when a monstrous crime has been committed.
Although there are many Torah prohibitions that call for a death sentence, our
tradition does not interpret them literally. According to the Mishnah, a Jewish
court is considered bloodthirsty if it allows the death penalty to be carried
out once every 70 years, with some of the rabbinic sages balking at ever
approving the sentence (Makkot 1:10).
(source: The Jerusalem Post)
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