Fate of death penalty bill rests with small group of lawmakers
Friday April 29, 2005
By STEVE LeBLANC
Associated Press Writer
BOSTON (AP) Any chance Gov. Mitt Romney has of resurrecting the death penalty in Massachusetts rests in the hands of a narrow group of lawmakers those who oppose capital punishment not on moral grounds, but because they fear an innocent person might be executed.
How many of those lawmakers exist on Beacon Hill is anyone's guess. But in the absence of hard numbers, both sides were claiming an edge.
On Friday, a day after unveiling a death penalty bill he says will make it virtually impossible to execute the innocent, Romney told reporters safeguards in the legislation are already swaying some lawmakers.
``I've spoken to more than one legislator who expressed concern about the death penalty and yet felt there are safeguards in this new bill that provides them with the confidence that they were lacking in the past,'' Romney said.
Rep. Philip Travis, D-Rehoboth, agreed. Travis, who supports the death penalty, said the main reason the death penalty lost in past votes was a fear of executing the innocent, not a strict moral opposition.
Romney's bill is a vast improvement over previous death penalty bills, in part because of the extra protections for those facing execution, Travis said.
``My colleagues back then, they said if we could be absolutely sure (there would be no mistakes) they would vote for the death penalty, but because they can't be absolutely sure, they didn't want to take a chance,'' he said. ``This (bill) moves that margin way, way closer.''
Death penalty foes say the momentum is on their side.
They say lawmakers have grown more leery about imposing the death penalty in recent years. They point to the Legislature's approval last year of a bill allowing anyone wrongfully convicted of a crime and sentenced to a year or more in jail to sue the state for up to half a million dollars.
``There is a growing feeling that we have to be more careful about the mistakes that have been made,'' said Rep. Byron Rushing, D-Boston.
Martina Jackson, Executive Director of Massachusetts Citizens Against the Death Penalty, said she's confident that sentiment on Beacon Hill is moving away from the death penalty.
But she also conceded that could change quickly in the face of a single horrific crime.
``We always live with the sense that one child murder could change that dynamic,'' she said.
The death penalty debate reached an emotional watershed following the 1997 murder of 10-year-old Jeffrey Curley.
Curley was abducted from a Cambridge street and killed by two men who later got life sentences. Public outrage fueled calls for a death penalty bill that passed easily in the state Senate. Foes defeated it by a single vote in the House.
Since then the margin of opposition has grown in the House, which defeated another death penalty bill two years later by 80-73 margin. The Senate hasn't taken a roll call vote on the death penalty since 1997.
During that time there has been a change in leadership in both chambers, an influx of new lawmakers, and rising questions about the fairness of capital punishment nationwide.
Romney's bill would allow capital punishment for people convicted of terrorism, multiple murders and killing law enforcement officers.
It includes safeguards he says will protect the innocent, including a requirement that physical evidence, such as DNA, directly link the defendant to the crime scene.
The bill also mandates an additional review of that evidence before a death sentence is imposed, and every death penalty case would have separate juries for the trial and sentencing. Every case would automatically be reviewed by the state's highest court, and a commission would be created to review complaints and investigate errors.
The last executions in Massachusetts were in 1947.
In 1982, 54 percent of Massachusetts voters approved a death penalty ballot question, which was later ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Judicial Court.
Posted by: USMCMP5811
Highlights of Gov. Mitt Romney's death penalty bill
Thursday April 28, 2005
Here are some highlights from the death penalty bill filed by Gov. Mitt Romney on Thursday. The bill would:
Limit capital punishment to people convicted of terrorism, multiple murders, killing law enforcement officers and murder involving torture.
Require conclusive scientific evidence, such as DNA, linking the suspect to the crime.
Mandate a scientific review of the physical evidence before an execution is carried out.
Establish a ``no doubt'' standard that even after a guilty verdict is found, if any juror harbors the slightest doubt of guilt, the death penalty cannot be imposed.
Require two trials, one to determine guilt and a second to decide whether to impose the death penalty.
Require an automatic review by the Supreme Judicial Court.
Bar the execution of anyone younger than 18 at the time of the crime.
Develop a list of ``capital case qualified'' defense attorneys to represent anyone facing the death penalty.
Create a commission to review complaints and investigate errors.
Posted by: LenS
MA will NEVER pass and ENFORCE the death penalty. Our pols are much to liberal, they coddle the murderers, put plans in place for early release, unsupervised furloughs, etc.
I've been thru this too many times (watching my hopes get dashed) over the 31 adult years I've been back in MA.
I've discussed it a number of times with my state elected officials and they are so into saving every scumbag's life for moral reasons that it makes me want to puke.
Back in the late 1970s I visited the "B Block" (hardcore murderers) at Walpole State Prison a number of times (the Jaycee chapter I was an officer of started a "chapter behind the walls"), even arranged for the Senate Chair of the Ways & Means Committee for a personal one-on-many tour of same (he asked me to arrange it, he was my Finance professor in my MBA program). I met ~20 lifers there many times, even got a call at work from one of them asking for me to personally intercede on his behalf (he asked me to talk to the Commr of Corrections, who I knew) to get an early out (after 8 years of a "life" sentence for murder)! These guys are extra-ordinary con-artists, and much too often convince politicians to commute their sentences. These same pols would do anything in their power to circumvent an execution! We had capital punishment "on the books" well after 1947, but just never implemented it!
[My visits to Walpole occurred before I had anything to do with law enforcement.]
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