Death penalty repeal revs up as police groups voice opposition
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| State Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton, is leading the legislative effort to repeal the death penalty. She will be part of today's rally at Legislative Hall |
Lawmakers returning to Dover today will consider repealing Delaware’s death penalty, overturning all 17 current death row sentences and substituting life without parole.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton, is teaming with the American Civil Liberties Union to push the repeal effort. A rally is planned today at Legislative Hall in support of the bill.
Senate Minority Leader Gary Simpson, a Milford Republican, also is backing the bill. But significant opposition is expected from the Delaware Police Chiefs’ Council and the Delaware State Troopers Association, which say those convicted of killing police officers should face capital punishment.
Gov. Jack Markell would not take a position on the bill when asked recently, unlike his Democratic counterpart in Maryland, Gov. Martin O’Malley, who has lent strong support to the repeal effort in his state.
“I have an open mind,” Markell said.
Peterson said the arguments for repeal are:
• Capital punishment does not deter violent crime.
• It is costly for the state to defend and prosecute.
• Punishment is morally flawed.
“I don’t think the state should be in the business of killing people,” Peterson said. “It just is so bizarre to me that we would say to somebody that what you did was so horrible, that now we’re going to do it.
“How do we justify that?” she asked.
Attorney General Beau Biden has repeatedly sought the death penalty in first-degree murder cases, and appears likely to oppose the repeal effort. Asked for a statement on the bill, Biden said through a spokesman that “my position has not changed.”
Since 1992, the state has executed 16 convicted killers, all but one by lethal injection. Billy Bailey, who was convicted of killing an elderly couple in Cheswold, chose to be hanged in January 1996. The latest put to death was Shannon Johnson, who was executed last April for killing Cameron Hamlin in 2006.
Seventeen convicted killers sitting on Delaware’s death row, some with convictions dating back more than a decade, would see their sentences commuted if the bill were to pass. They instead would face life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Sen. Karen Peterson, D-Stanton, is teaming with the American Civil Liberties Union to push the repeal effort. A rally is planned today at Legislative Hall in support of the bill.
Senate Minority Leader Gary Simpson, a Milford Republican, also is backing the bill. But significant opposition is expected from the Delaware Police Chiefs’ Council and the Delaware State Troopers Association, which say those convicted of killing police officers should face capital punishment.
Gov. Jack Markell would not take a position on the bill when asked recently, unlike his Democratic counterpart in Maryland, Gov. Martin O’Malley, who has lent strong support to the repeal effort in his state.
“I have an open mind,” Markell said.
Peterson said the arguments for repeal are:
• Capital punishment does not deter violent crime.
• It is costly for the state to defend and prosecute.
• Punishment is morally flawed.
“I don’t think the state should be in the business of killing people,” Peterson said. “It just is so bizarre to me that we would say to somebody that what you did was so horrible, that now we’re going to do it.
“How do we justify that?” she asked.
Attorney General Beau Biden has repeatedly sought the death penalty in first-degree murder cases, and appears likely to oppose the repeal effort. Asked for a statement on the bill, Biden said through a spokesman that “my position has not changed.”
Since 1992, the state has executed 16 convicted killers, all but one by lethal injection. Billy Bailey, who was convicted of killing an elderly couple in Cheswold, chose to be hanged in January 1996. The latest put to death was Shannon Johnson, who was executed last April for killing Cameron Hamlin in 2006.
Seventeen convicted killers sitting on Delaware’s death row, some with convictions dating back more than a decade, would see their sentences commuted if the bill were to pass. They instead would face life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
The list includes Derrick Powell, who was convicted of killing Georgetown Police Officer Chad Spicer in the line of duty in 2009. The Delaware Supreme Court upheld Powell’s death sentence last year.
Another accused Delaware cop killer, David Salasky, faces the death penalty in a case set for trial in October. Salasky is accused of stabbing New Castle County Police Lt. Joseph Szczerba to death in September 2011. Public defenders representing him, however, have asked a judge to bar the death penalty in the case due to Salasky’s mental illness.
Lt. Thomas Brackin, president of the Delaware State Troopers Association, said Powell should be put to death for his crime, and the same should apply to Salasky if convicted.
“Their families would not have any ability to see them again, yet the families of their murderers would be able to go visit these people in jail for the rest of their lives,” Brackin said. “We feel there’s a gross injustice there.”
Ruth Ann Spicer, the slain Georgetown police officer’s mother, said that prosecutors worked diligently on the case and that Powell’s sentence should be upheld.
“I just feel that those that had their sentences handed down to them, and that were given the death sentence, those sentences should be followed through,” Spicer said. “The Justice Department worked very hard to bring this case to justice. And justice was served.”
Thirty-three states have the death penalty as a sentence for some convictions.
In Delaware, a jury offers recommendations on sentences in first-degree murder cases, but judges are ultimately responsible for handing down sentences of death, which are automatically appealed to the state Supreme Court.
Several states have repealed capital punishment in recent years, with Maryland a possible 18th state to abolish executions. The most recent repeal occurred in 2012, when Connecticut lawmakers ended the practice but did not apply it retroactively, leaving 11 on death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Another accused Delaware cop killer, David Salasky, faces the death penalty in a case set for trial in October. Salasky is accused of stabbing New Castle County Police Lt. Joseph Szczerba to death in September 2011. Public defenders representing him, however, have asked a judge to bar the death penalty in the case due to Salasky’s mental illness.
Lt. Thomas Brackin, president of the Delaware State Troopers Association, said Powell should be put to death for his crime, and the same should apply to Salasky if convicted.
“Their families would not have any ability to see them again, yet the families of their murderers would be able to go visit these people in jail for the rest of their lives,” Brackin said. “We feel there’s a gross injustice there.”
Ruth Ann Spicer, the slain Georgetown police officer’s mother, said that prosecutors worked diligently on the case and that Powell’s sentence should be upheld.
“I just feel that those that had their sentences handed down to them, and that were given the death sentence, those sentences should be followed through,” Spicer said. “The Justice Department worked very hard to bring this case to justice. And justice was served.”
Thirty-three states have the death penalty as a sentence for some convictions.
In Delaware, a jury offers recommendations on sentences in first-degree murder cases, but judges are ultimately responsible for handing down sentences of death, which are automatically appealed to the state Supreme Court.
Several states have repealed capital punishment in recent years, with Maryland a possible 18th state to abolish executions. The most recent repeal occurred in 2012, when Connecticut lawmakers ended the practice but did not apply it retroactively, leaving 11 on death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Kathleen MacRae, executive director of the Delaware ACLU, helped lead the effort to repeal New Mexico’s death penalty in 2009. That state’s repeal, unlike the Delaware proposal, was not retroactive, leaving two on death row.
Last week, the Maryland Senate voted 27-20 to abolish the death penalty, and a House committee signed off on the bill on Friday. Gov. O’Malley pushed the repeal, saying earlier this year that the “death penalty does not work in terms of preventing violent crime and the taking of human life.”
The Delaware Constitution gives the governor the ability to commute death sentences, and Markell exercised that authority in January 2012, sparing the life of Robert Gattis, who was sentenced to death for the May 1990 murder of his former girlfriend Shirley Slay.
Markell commuted the sentence to life without parole, citing a recommendation by the Board of Pardons and the abuse and neglect that Gattis faced as a child.
Repeal advocates point to the high level of violent crime in Delaware, and even the recent killings and shootings of police officers, as evidence that the death penalty does little as a deterrent.
“The death penalty doesn’t work,” MacRae has said. “It doesn’t keep the community safe.”
Opponents aren’t so sure the death penalty doesn’t deter crime, saying execution has its place.
“It may not be a deterrent, but how do you know that? How many people did not commit that violent crime or homicide because they were afraid of the death penalty?” asked William Topping, chief of the Georgetown Police Department and vice chairman of the Delaware Police Chiefs’ Council.
“It’s unmeasurable,” he added. “All we do know is we have people out there who will commit those crimes.”
The cost of prosecuting and defending capital cases, which falls almost exclusively to taxpayers, is also key in the debate.
Delaware’s Public Defender’s Office, for example, must put two defense attorneys on each capital case, as well as a mitigation specialist that builds the case for not putting the defendant to death. The Attorney General’s Office, meanwhile, almost always has two prosecutors on homicide cases, even if it is not seeking the death penalty, state Prosecutor Kathleen Jennings said.
Last week, the Maryland Senate voted 27-20 to abolish the death penalty, and a House committee signed off on the bill on Friday. Gov. O’Malley pushed the repeal, saying earlier this year that the “death penalty does not work in terms of preventing violent crime and the taking of human life.”
The Delaware Constitution gives the governor the ability to commute death sentences, and Markell exercised that authority in January 2012, sparing the life of Robert Gattis, who was sentenced to death for the May 1990 murder of his former girlfriend Shirley Slay.
Markell commuted the sentence to life without parole, citing a recommendation by the Board of Pardons and the abuse and neglect that Gattis faced as a child.
Repeal advocates point to the high level of violent crime in Delaware, and even the recent killings and shootings of police officers, as evidence that the death penalty does little as a deterrent.
“The death penalty doesn’t work,” MacRae has said. “It doesn’t keep the community safe.”
Opponents aren’t so sure the death penalty doesn’t deter crime, saying execution has its place.
“It may not be a deterrent, but how do you know that? How many people did not commit that violent crime or homicide because they were afraid of the death penalty?” asked William Topping, chief of the Georgetown Police Department and vice chairman of the Delaware Police Chiefs’ Council.
“It’s unmeasurable,” he added. “All we do know is we have people out there who will commit those crimes.”
The cost of prosecuting and defending capital cases, which falls almost exclusively to taxpayers, is also key in the debate.
Delaware’s Public Defender’s Office, for example, must put two defense attorneys on each capital case, as well as a mitigation specialist that builds the case for not putting the defendant to death. The Attorney General’s Office, meanwhile, almost always has two prosecutors on homicide cases, even if it is not seeking the death penalty, state Prosecutor Kathleen Jennings said.
The state is paying the defense bill in 43 capital cases that are awaiting trial with defendants represented by the public defender’s office or the Office of Conflicts Counsel, which takes on cases that the public defenders cannot because of a conflict.
Brendan O’Neill, who heads the Public Defender’s Office and supports repeal, said his agency spent $2.3 million in fiscal 2012 to defend capital cases, including many that did not result in prosecutors seeking the death sentence.
Brackin, of the troopers association, said reducing the cases in which prosecutors seek capital punishment could reduce costs.
Jennings, who ultimately makes recommendations to the attorney general on whether to pursue the death penalty, called the cost issue a “red herring” that has no place in the debate. She said a state Justice Department committee reviews cases before deciding to seek the death penalty.
“The issue is not does it cost more,” Jennings said. “The issue is, is that the right thing to do? Should there be a death penalty?”
Brendan O’Neill, who heads the Public Defender’s Office and supports repeal, said his agency spent $2.3 million in fiscal 2012 to defend capital cases, including many that did not result in prosecutors seeking the death sentence.
Brackin, of the troopers association, said reducing the cases in which prosecutors seek capital punishment could reduce costs.
Jennings, who ultimately makes recommendations to the attorney general on whether to pursue the death penalty, called the cost issue a “red herring” that has no place in the debate. She said a state Justice Department committee reviews cases before deciding to seek the death penalty.
“The issue is not does it cost more,” Jennings said. “The issue is, is that the right thing to do? Should there be a death penalty?”
Courtesy: Delawareonline
