AUSTIN, Texas (April 12, 2001 10:14 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - A state Senate panel has endorsed a plan to let Texans decide for themselves whether to halt executions for two years in the nation's most active death penalty state. The Senate Criminal Justice Committee approved the proposal Wednesday by a 4-3 vote. If approved by a two-thirds majority of both the Senate and House, the resolution would put the issue before voters in November as a proposed amendment to the state constitution. If the plan is approved, Texas' death row would sit idle while the state studies how it administers the death penalty. The vote Wednesday was split along party lines, with the panel's four Democrats backing the resolution and its three Republicans opposing it. To gain approval in the full Senate, the proposal would need several votes from Republicans, who hold a 16-15 majority. GOP Sen. Todd Staples voted against the resolution, "keeping in mind the rights of the victims and the victims' families who have suffered through the heinous acts," spokesman Jerry Johnson said. "Texans ought to have a chance to vote on their death penalty system," said Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, the Democrat who proposed the resolution. Texas executed a record 40 inmates in 2000. Six have been put to death this year. Texas' death penalty system came under intense national scrutiny during the 2000 presidential campaign of then-Gov. George W. Bush. Bush maintained that no innocent person had been executed in Texas, a belief shared by his successor, Republican Gov. Rick Perry. "The governor has said he does not believe a moratorium is necessary," Perry spokesman Gene Acuna said. Many leaders of victims' rights groups share Perry's opposition to the resolution. "It just delays justice," said Dianne Clements of the Houston-based group Justice for All. "The moratorium movement is nothing more than an attempt to eliminate the death penalty." Anti-death penalty groups, meanwhile, see the move as a welcome start to examining the system. "There are plenty of problems with Texas, having horrible representation for indigent clients, and a majority of a system is geared toward executing poor people," said Lance Lindsey, executive director of Death Penalty Focus, a San Francisco-based anti-execution group. http://www.nandotimes.com/nation/story/0,1038,500472765-500724658-504075057-0,00.html [This message has been edited by mc mark (edited April 12, 2001).]
If they are guilty and admit it, let'em fry!! buuuzzzzzzzzzzzzzttt!! NEXT! ------------------ Im too drunk to walk ... Im driving home!
IMHO, even if it were put to a vote, the voters in Texas would vote to continue executions. ------------------ "Blues is a Healer" --John Lee Hooker
The odds are zero that the Republicans would let this go up for a vote. Space Ghost, they use the lethal injection in Texas, not the chair. Do you have a cool sound effect for that? ------------------ I'm about to boldly go where many men have gone before.
If they are guilty and admit it, let'em fry!! If they are guilt and admit it (plead guilty), that probably means they pled down to something less than a death sentence. ------------------ http://www.swirve.com ... more fun than a barrel full of monkeys and midgets.
It's not just Republicans. The State Senate has several pro-death penalty Democrats, as well (as does the Texas House). The Death Penalty is not a party-line issue in this statehouse. ------------------ Houston Sports Board
paige Did you read this sentence? "The vote Wednesday was split along party lines, with the panel's four Democrats backing the resolution and its three Republicans opposing it." Sounds like to me it is a party-line issue. But I agree, if this came to a vote by the populace, it would be voted down. ------------------ Everything you do, effects everything that is. [This message has been edited by mc mark (edited April 12, 2001).]
Did you read the story? It said four Democratic Senators voted in this committee. Nowhere does it say that the other 11 Democratic Senators agree with those four on the death penalty issue and would vote accordingly. I'm saying that you can't base the views of the Entire State Senate and State House based on 4 of the State's Senators. Go ask all the Senators and Representatives in the State their views on the Death Penalty and get back to me about whether this is a party line issue. If it is, then there has been some changing in opinions since the last round of elections, as some Democrats in the Senate and the House have run as Pro-Death Penalty candidates (including the Speaker of the Texas House). ------------------ Houston Sports Board [This message has been edited by mrpaige (edited April 12, 2001).]
Yes, I understood the first time. Sorry, didn't mean to sound condescending. And I agree, just because 4 people voted one way is no indication that they all feel the same. ------------------ Everything you do, effects everything that is.
