From New Mexico, the Alamogordo Daily News reports, "Sponsor says proposals to reinstate death penalty have no chance to succeed." It's written by Milan Simonich.
The legislator pushing to reinstate the death penalty in New Mexico conceded defeat Saturday.
Two proposals on capital punishment by Rep. Dennis Kintigh will get hearings this week. But they have been stalled by a Democratic leader for so long that they have no chance to succeed this year, Kintigh said in an interview.
Kintigh, R-Roswell, publicly said he considered the inaction by Rep. Gail Chasey of Albuquerque to be an abuse of the legislative process. She said he was mistaken.
Neither of Kintigh's proposals for the death penalty has received a hearing in the committee chaired by Chasey, the Legislature's foremost opponent of the death penalty. Chasey led the successful drive in 2009 to repeal the death penalty.
The Boise Weekly posts, "Idaho Legislature Considers Execution Bills," by Andrew Crisp.
The Idaho Department of Correction unveiled a package of execution-related bills Monday before the Idaho Legislature.
"I have no issues with the technicalities of this legislation," said Boise Democratic Sen. Nicole LeFavour, but she joined fellow Democrat Boise Sen. Les Bock in voting no on the bills.
One measure would limit the legal ramifications for health professionals involved with future executions. IDOC Director Brent Reinke told members of the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee that the Gem State currently has 14 offenders on death row.
"We have members whose identities need to be protected," said Reinke, referring to medical personnel who participate in execution teams. "We do everything we can to conceal these people's identities."
Reinke suggested in a House committee hearing last week that Idaho could see another execution at early as this spring. The committee moved to print the bill.
Two other pieces of legislation related specifically to a procedural clarification on the return of the death warrant to the state once the offender has expired, and on the timeline for the state to retrieve the warrant. LaMont Anderson, also with the AG's office, called the two bills "Lessons Learned from Rhoades."
Florida's Naples News carries, "Three state lawmakers push separate measures to alter death penalty procedure," by Victorial Macchi.
If a killer is headed to death row, a jury needs to recommend it unanimously, contend three Florida legislators who are pushing bills in Tallahassee this session to change Florida law.
The current requirement of seven out of 12 jurors isn't enough to condemn a person to death, they say.
Three bills — two in the House, one in the Senate — seek to amend current Florida law so that unanimity among jurors would be required when suggesting capital punishment to a judge.
In Florida, a first-degree murder case has two phases — one to determine guilt and a second proceeding for the jury to recommend a penalty. Florida is the only state that doesn't require juror unanimity for the recommendation.
"This is out of step with every other state in the United States," said Seth Miller, executive director of the Innocence Project of Florida. "And frankly, it means that a number of people who shouldn't get the death penalty, get the death penalty here in Florida."
And:
The legislation proposed for 2012 isn't a new concept.
They highlight a suggestion made by the American Bar Association in a 2006 report, which advises: "Florida should require that the jury's sentencing verdict in capital cases be unanimous and, when the sentencing verdict is a death sentence, that the jury reach unanimous agreement on at least one aggravating circumstance."
Two similar bills died in state House and Senate committee hearings during the 2011 legislative session.
This year, Senate Bill 772, sponsored by Sen. Thad Altman, R-Melbourne; Senate Bill 352, sponsored by Sen. Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, and House Bill 29, sponsored by Rep. John Patrick Julien, D-North Miami Beach, all seek the same reform: the unanimous jury on death penalty cases.
Earlier coverage from Florida, Idaho, and New Mexico at the links. Related posts are in the state legislation index.
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