Death penalty

HARTFORD, CT -- NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous joined with Connecticut House Speaker Christopher G. Donovan to condemn Governor Jodi Rell’s veto of HB-6578.

The NAACP Connecticut State Conference launched a campaign in support of the bill which would have replaced the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole for all capital felonies committed after the bill’s enactment. The bill was recently passed by the Connecticut Judiciary Committee and by both the House and the Senate, but can be vetoed by Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell.    » read more »

June 5, 2009 -- Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell today vetoed HB 6578, An Act Concerning the Penalty for a Capital Felony, which sought to eliminate the death penalty as a sentencing option in Connecticut.

A copy of the Governor’s veto message is attached.

June 5, 2009

The Honorable Susan Bysiewicz

Secretary of the State

18-20 Trinity Street

Hartford, CT 06106

Dear Madame Secretary:

I am hereby returning without my signature HB 6578, An Act Concerning the Penalty for a Capital Felony. This bill eliminates the death penalty as a sentencing option for crimes committed on or after the bill's effective date.    » read more »

May 28, 2009 -- (Lincoln, Neb.) -- Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman today signed a bill that makes lethal injection the method of execution in the state. The bill, LB 36, was sponsored by Speaker Mike Flood of Norfolk.

“Nebraska needed a legal means of execution,” Gov. Heineman said. “There is broad support for the death penalty in our state and this issue needed to be resolved during this legislative session. I want to thank Speaker Flood for his work on this bill.”    » read more »

May 22, 2009 -- Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell today issued the following statement concerning House Bill 6578, An Act Concerning the Penalty for a Capital Felony:

“I appreciate the passionate beliefs of people on both sides of the death penalty debate. I fully understand the concerns and deeply held convictions of those who would like to see the death penalty abolished in Connecticut. However, I also fully understand the anguish and outrage of the families of victims who believe, as I do, that there are certain crimes so heinous – so fundamentally revolting to our humanity – that the death penalty is warranted.

“I will veto this bill as soon as it hits my desk.”

Source: Connecticut Governor

March 19, 2009 -- TRENTON – New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine today issued the following statement on the State of New Mexico repealing the death penalty.

“I want to commend Governor Richardson for signing legislation repealing the death penalty in New Mexico. Governor Richardson’s decision to abolish the death penalty in his state, regardless of his own personal opinion on the matter, demonstrates the true character of a leader.    » read more »

March 18, 2009 -- SANTA FE – New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson today signed House Bill 285, Repeal of the Death Penalty. The Governor’s remarks follow:

"Today marks the end of a long, personal journey for me and the issue of the death penalty.

Throughout my adult life, I have been a firm believer in the death penalty as a just punishment – in very rare instances, and only for the most heinous crimes. I still believe that.

But six years ago, when I took office as Governor of the State of New Mexico, I started to challenge my own thinking on the death penalty.    » read more »

Washington DC --02 June 2008 -- A new documentary "At the Death House Door" and a Virginia execution of convicted killer Kevin Green have once again stirred the controversy over capital punishment. New questions have been raised in recent years over the U.S. death penalty, as some officials say minorities and the poor are disproportionately put to death. In other cases, DNA tests resulted in the release of a few inmates who were scheduled to die.

On a Friday night in February 1983 a man with a knife walks into a Texas convenience store. The documentary "At the Death House Door" replays the conversation in which Wanda Lopez, a lone clerk, calls the police screaming for help while being attacked.    » read more »

16 April 2008 -- The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the most common method of lethal injection used for executions by the federal government and 36 states. The unsuccessful constitutional challenge to the three-drug lethal injection was brought by lawyers representing two men sentenced to die in the state of Kentucky.

Lawyers for the two convicted murderers at the center of the case argued that death by lethal injection amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, which is prohibited by the U.S. constitution. The lawyers argued that the drugs are often administered by untrained officials who sometimes botch the executions, causing extreme pain and suffering.    » read more »

April 16, 2008 -- Lincoln, Neb. - Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman and Attorney General Jon Bruning commented today on a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld lethal injection as a legal method of execution in response to a challenge in another state.

Gov. Heineman said, “I find it encouraging that the United States Supreme Court has ruled Kentucky’s method of lethal injection as a constitutional means of execution.

“The ruling issued today is intricate and complex and I have asked Attorney General Bruning to conduct a careful, thorough and thoughtful review of this case in order to determine an appropriate course of action. I am not eager to call a special session and I will not make a final decision regarding a special session until this review is completed.”    » read more »

April 16, 2008 -- JEFFERSON CITY - Following a U.S. Supreme Court decision rejecting a challenge to lethal injection, Missouri Governor Matt Blunt, a strong supporter of the death penalty, today issued the following statement calling on the Missouri Supreme Court to immediately issue execution orders for all pending death penalty cases:

Lethal injection: Photo by Jessica Stacey (CC)    » read more »

April 14, 2008 -- TRENTON - New Jersey Governor Jon S. Corzine today spoke at the Legislative Abolition of the Death Penalty in New Jersey Conference to reflect on the process of abolishing the death penalty in the state. The conference was held at The Newark Club. The Governor signed legislation in December of 2007 ending the death penalty in New Jersey and today offered the following sentiments.

Electric chair used in Texas until 1954: Photo by Jessica Stacey (CC)    » read more »

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb. 28, 2008 – Saying that the capital trials of six Guantanamo detainees should comply with well-established guidelines for death penalty cases, American Bar Association President William H. Neukom has offered, in a letter to President Bush, to “engage the most able legal minds to ensure that these cases comport with the rule of law, so precious to our democracy."    » read more »

Death Penalty in Flawed Military Commissions Should Not Be an Option

Washington, DC, February 11, 2008 – The trials of six Guantanamo detainees being charged for their role in the September 11, 2001 attacks should be moved from the Guantanamo military commissions to US federal courts, Human Rights Watch said today.    » read more »

Nebraska Ruling Brings US Closer to Ending This Inhumane Form of Execution in US

New York, February 8, 2008 – The Nebraska Supreme Court’s ruling today that use of the electric chair violates the state constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment is an important step toward eliminating inherently inhumane executions in the United States, Human Rights Watch said today.

Nebraska is the only state to use the electric chair as its sole method of execution; all other US death penalty jurisdictions use lethal injection.    » read more »

February 8, 2008 -- Lincoln, NE -- Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman released the following statement regarding the opinion issued today by the Nebraska Supreme Court.

“I am appalled by the Nebraska Supreme Court’s decision. Today the court has asserted itself improperly as a policymaker. Once again, this activist court has ignored its own precedent and the precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court to continue its assault on the Nebraska death penalty.    » read more »