Feb. 21 NEW YORK: Majority In New York Against Death Penalty More adults in the Empire State choose 2 alternatives over capital punishment, according to a poll by the New York Times. 56 % of respondents believe life in prison "with or without parole" should be the penalty for persons convicted of murder. Since 1976, 949 people have been put to death in the United States, including 5 during 2005. More than 1/3 of all executions have taken place in the state of Texas. 12 states and the District of Columbia do not engage in capital punishment, and moratoriums on executions have been issued in Illinois and Maryland. New York reinstated capital punishment in 1995. Last June, the New York State Court of Appeals ruled that the states death penalty is illegal. The state has not executed a single person since 1963. Polling Data What do you think should be the penalty for persons convicted of murder - the death penalty, or life in prison with no chance of parole, or a long prison sentence with a chance of parole? Death penalty----34% Life with no parole----43% Life with parole----13% Dont know----11% Methodology: Telephone interviews to 1,822 New York adults, conducted from Feb. 4 to Feb. 13, 2005. Margin of error is 3 %. (source: New York Times) KENTUCKY: Death Penalty Possible in Baby Beating Death Prosecutors in Western Kentucky say they will seek the death penalty for a charged with beating to death his 3-month-old son. The infant's mother brought Daniel Reed to Livingston County Hospital Thursday morning. Doctors pronounced him dead shortly after that, blaming mutliple blunt force injuries. The infant's father, 28-year-old Roger "Jake" Reed, is now charged with murdering the baby boy. Livingston County's Commonweath Attorney G.L. Ovey says if Reed is convicted, he will ask the jury for a death sentence. Reed remained at the jail in Smithland on Friday night under a $75,000 bond. (source: Associated Press) LOUISIANA----new death sentence Miss. man given death sentence for killing minister A Mississippi man was sentenced to death Saturday for the fatal shooting and stabbing of a retired minister. Robert Coleman, 35, of Tylertown was convicted of 1st-degree murder Thursday in the killing of Julian Brandon, 70, in 2003. Authorities said Brandon was killed during a home invasion and robbery that also left his wife shot and critically wounded. Coleman faced either the death penalty or life in prison without parole. Authorities said Brandon's body was discovered on Jan. 5, 2003, 4 days after the shootings, when a friend went to his home to find out why he had not heard from Brandon. Brandon's wife, who had lain wounded in the house, never fully recovered and was unable to testify during the trial. (source: Associated Press) KANSAS: Death penalty hits Senate----Chambers anticipate busy 'turnaround week' A flurry of bills -- about 100 in the House alone -- will be up for consideration this week as legislators reach the 2005 session's midpoint. The Senate will raise the temperature today with floor debate on the death penalty. Senators will consider a bill that eliminates state-sanctioned capital punishment in Kansas and another that amends the death penalty statute found in December by the Kansas Supreme Court to be constitutionally flawed. Neither are likely to pass. "It will be interesting though to note the debate on the repeal on the death penalty," said Senate President Stephen Morris, R-Hugoton. "It's been 11 years since we've had any kind of protracted debate on the death penalty." He said the Senate was likely to urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Kansas court's decision on capital punishment. House Speaker Doug Mays, R-Topeka, said the "turnaround week" -- ending Friday and marking the session's halfway point -- would create a rush to move as many bills as possible out of the chamber of origin. The House, as well as the Senate, will work overtime to deal with high volume. "We have no idea how many of those are controversial," Mays said. "If none of them are controversial, we can get done in 2 days. But it just takes 1 or 2 to hang us up." (source: Capital Journal Online)
