"Life-without-parole bill imperiled by addition," is Bill Rankin and Aaron Gould Sheinin's report in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
A move to allow a death sentence without a unanimous jury sidetracked legislation Tuesday that was the state district attorneys’ top priority this session.
The House was scheduled to vote for final passage of Senate Bill 13, which would allow DAs to seek a sentence of life without parole without having to seek the death penalty to get it.
But House Rules Committee Chairman Earl Ehrhart (R-Powder Springs) pulled the bill off the House floor just before the vote so it could be amended with nonunanimous jury legislation.
The amendment would allow a judge to impose a capital sentence if a jury deadlocked during the sentencing phase, with at least a 9-3 vote in favor of death.
Even though many DAs support the nonunanimous jury bill, they have said they do not want it amended to —- and thus imperil passage of —- their top priority, the life-without-parole bill.
SB 13, which already passed the Senate by a 54-0 vote, has widespread support because it would spare DAs from mounting costly capital prosecutions when the sentence they really want is life without parole.
Once a DA files a notice to seek death in a murder case, the sentencing options are life with parole, life without parole or death.
Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome), SB 13’s lead sponsor, expressed disappointment Tuesday after learning of the maneuver by House Republicans. If the nonunanimous jury amendment is put on his bill, Smith said, it would kill both measures. He said he supports the death penalty but has yet to see a nonunanimous jury proposal that will withstand a constitutional challenge.
An earlier version of the report was filed by Rankin, "Life-without-parole bill pulled from House vote."
Outside the House chamber, Ehrhart said S.B. 13 needed a “technical correction.”
Sen. Preston Smith (R-Rome), the bill’s lead sponsor, said he was told that House leaders pulled the bill to try and amend it to allow death sentences when jurors vote 9 to 3 in favor of death but are unable to reach a verdict.
That is the same split in which jurors deadlocked in the death-penalty trial against courthouse killer Brian Nichols, who was subsequently sentenced to life without parole.
“It sounds like both bills are dead,” Smith said. “I’m very disappointed.”
Smith said he believes in the death penalty but said he has yet to see a non-unanimous jury proposal that will withstand a constitutional challenge.
If S.B. 13 fails, it would be the third year in a row it has happened. Last year, House leaders refused to allow Smith’s bill pass without a non-unanimous jury bill.
Douglas County District Attorney David McDade expressed surprise by the turn of events. He declined comment.
Sara Totonchi, public policy director for the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, said House leaders are trying to push through controversial legislation at the expense of the life-without-parole bill, which has the support of both prosecutors and defense attorneys.
“This bill lowers the standards for the imposition of the death penalty at a time when the nation is moving to enact more safeguards to make sure we don’t convict or execute the wrong person,” she said.
Georgia Public Broadcasting aired, "House Considers Changing Unanimous-Jury Requirement for Death Sentences," earlier today. It's by Carl Zornes.
The state House was set to take up a Senate bil that would allow prosecutors to seek life without parole sentences. Currenlty that is only possible if they first ask for the death penalty. But the bill was sent back to committee before reaching the floor.
Motivated by the Brian Nichols case, leading House Republicans want to add an amendment to do away with Georgia's unanimous-jury verdict-requirement in death penalty cases.
The proposed changes have bill sponsor Senator Preston Smith irate. He says the measure was supposed to be a victims' rights bill and House members are quickly turning it into something new.
Earlier coverage of the Georgia legislation is here.
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