Moratorium Bill Through Assembly Public Safety Committee

This is a good start.

A state Assembly committee on Tuesday approved a bill that would impose a two-year moratorium on death sentences in California, allowing time for a state commission on executions to complete its review of the system.

Now then, there are still some other hurdles, like the Appropriations Committee and then of course the actual floor vote - if it gets to that. I am pretty confident it will get to the floor, but I don't know what will happen once it gets there. It looks certain that the Republicans will stand united against the bill, but will there be some cowardly Democrats that join them? I am sure that at least a few will. The most important hurdle, however, is the governor. It seems quite unlikely he will sign the bill - especially since it might be unconstitutional.

My favorite line from the hearing comes from good old Todd Spitzer.

"At the end of the day, justice has to be done," Spitzer said. "Someone has to speak for the victims."

Yes, someone does have to speak for the victims. Nobody is arguing that. What we are arguing is that the person "speaking" for the victim might be innocent. Or represented by an incompetent attorney. Or not given a fair trial. Or...

Hopefully we will have the guts to follow New Jersey's recent example.

Tag: Death Penalty