We have brief AP reports from South Dakota and Virginia.
From South Dakota, the Rapid City Journal posts, "SD Legislature passes limit on inmate appeals."
The South Dakota Legislature has given final approval to a measure aimed at preventing death-row inmates from filing repeated appeals in an effort to delay their executions.
The House voted 60-5 to approve a bill that has already been passed by the Senate. It will become law if signed by Gov. Dennis Daugaard.
Attorney General Marty Jackley proposed the measure, saying limits are needed in death-penalty cases because some cases are tied up in appeals for two decades.
Virginia's WRIC-TV posts, "House Committee Voting On Death Penalty Expansion."
Legislation to expand the death penalty in Virginia is up for a key vote at the General Assembly.
The Republican-backed bill would redefine the so-called triggerman rule, which in most cases restricts the death penalty to the person who does the actual killing. The bill would allow the death penalty for accomplices who share the intent to kill.
Del. Todd Gilbert's bill is on the docket for Wednesday afternoon's Senate Courts of Justice Committee meeting.
Two weeks ago, the Senate's own version of the bill died in the courts committee on a 7-7 party line vote, with one Republican abstaining because he accepts court appointments to represent capital murder defendants. The same vote on the House bill would doom the triggerman revision for the fifth consecutive year.
Earlier legislative coverage from South Dakota and Virginia at the links. Related posts are in the state legislation index.
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