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Thread: Utah Capital Punishment News

  1. #51
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Death penalty survives in Utah, murderer’s brother disrupts House in protest

    A bid to abolish capital punishment in Utah stalled out late Thursday after its sponsor fell a few votes shy of securing a victory and decided to pull the bill in the final hours of the 2016 legislative session.

    "Given the pressure of the last night, the votes I needed to swing, I didn't see them swinging," said Sen. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George.

    SB189 was to have eliminated the death penalty as a punishment for first-degree felony aggravated murder convictions after May 10. That would have left life without the possibility of parole and 25 years to life as the punishments for the crime.

    The bill would not have affected any capital case already being prosecuted, nor prevented Utah from carrying out the executions of the nine men currently on the state's death row.

    Urquhart and a small army of volunteer lobbyists had secured support from more than 30 House members by Thursday, evening, but were fighting the clock, he said. Thirty-eight votes were needed.

    The legislation already had passed the Senate.

    Included in Urquhart's effort to get the bill through the House was a proposed amendment that would have imposed a five-year moratorium on the death penalty to give the public and state lawmakers more time to consider the reasons for a future repeal, he said.

    "I'm a big believer in process, so I think, let's maybe slow this thing down a bit," he said. "I'm very surprised that it got as far as it did and I have little doubt that Utah will repeal the death penalty in a year or two."

    A longtime supporter of the death penalty, Urquhart has said he changed course on the issue after learning more about how the practice actually works in the Beehive State.

    On average, Utah spends an extra $1.6 million per death row inmate over its costs for those spending life in prison without parole, and typically it takes 25 years for a convicted killer to be executed, which delays justice for the families of victims.

    Urquhart said many of his fellow lawmakers switched their own positions on capital punishment after hearing those facts.

    "They realized we should be asking more questions. Every time we had a vote, we got the majority," he said. "It's one of the most amazing experiences I have had up here."

    Three of Utah's nine death-row inmates have been waiting nearly 30 years for execution. The last time the state carried out the death penalty was in 2010, when Ronnie Lee Gardner was executed by firing squad for the 1985 murder of Michael Burdell. An attorney, Burdell was simply at the wrong place at the wrong time during Gardner's bloody, but failed, escape attempt in the 3rd District Courthouse in Salt Lake City.

    Gardner's brother, Randy Gardner, was in the House gallery Thursday night waiting to see if SB189, which he supported, would move forward. His frustration grew into an outburst and a display of large pictures of his brother's bloodied dead body, which he and his son held up for lawmakers to see.

    Gardner was asked to leave the gallery by the Utah Highway Patrol and detained, but not cited, UHP Lt. Jess Anderson said.

    "I'm just disgusted, I had to get my point out, I can't take it no more," Randy Gardner told The Salt Lake Tribune in the hall outside the gallery. "It probably ain't going to change anything, but I feel better."

    Gardner, who does not condone his brother's crimes, said the public and lawmakers need to understand the way the death penalty impacts not just the victims of killers, but the families of those executed as well.

    "They need to see me," he said. "They need to hear me."

    http://www.sltrib.com/news/3645615-1...utah-murderers

  2. #52
    Moderator Ryan's Avatar
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    Utah May be Forced to Use the Firing Squad in Future Executions

    Utah is one step closer to returning to the firing squad as its only realistic form of capital punishment.

    The Pfizer drug company has announced that it will no longer make available several of its drugs for use in state-sanctioned executions. Pfizer was the only U.S. firm still making, and allowing, drugs used in executions.

    Eighteen months ago Utah Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clinton, got his HB11 passed into law. It specifically says if lethal drugs aren’t available at the time a death warrant is to be imposed, then the form of execution shall be a firing squad.

    In the 2016 Legislature retiring Sen. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, had SB189, which would have done away with the death penalty in Utah from this time forward.

    Those already sentenced to death could still be executed.

    SB189 passed in the Senate, but never got a vote by the whole House.

    An anti-death penalty group estimates that it costs $1.6 million for Utah to go through all the of court appeals in a capital case, much more than it would cost to keep a convicted murderer in prison for life.

    Urquhart and others argued that the death penalty is archaic and that modern DNA and other criminal high-tech detection shows some people are convicted of, and executed for, crimes they did not commit.

    Since 1975, when the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, Utah has executed seven murderers and have nine currently on death row awaiting execution.

    With the international drug firm’s decision over the weekend, it now appears those Utah murderers, if they are finally executed, will be killed by firing squad.

    http://utahpolicy.com/index.php/feat...ure-executions

  3. #53
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    Cost of death penalty giving rise to competing bills

    By Katie McKellar
    The Deseret News

    SALT LAKE CITY — A Utah lawmaker still intends to run a bill next year to condense Utah's death penalty appeals process, even though state law enforcement officials Wednesday told legislators it's already as tight as possible.

    The legislation, planned by Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, would compete with a bill calling for repeal of the death penalty — a proposal that passed in the Senate earlier this year but didn't make it to the House floor before the end of the session.

    After lawmakers heard from the Utah Attorney General's Office and an expert on national death penalty information, opponents of capital punishment said they felt confident legislators would recognize that abolishing the death penalty is the only cost-effective and rational choice.

    "There's really no basis for an argument based on the testimony that was brought forward here today," Ralph Dellapiana, director of Utahans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, said after Wednesday's meeting of the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee at the Capitol.

    Andrew Peterson and Thomas Bunker, both with the Utah Attorney General's Office, told lawmakers that most delays in the appeals process happen in federal court.

    "The way the statute is right now is the best that the state can do to move the cases along in both state and federal court," Bunker said.

    Robert Dunham, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, said every cost study done in the U.S. has indicated that the death penalty is "generally far more expensive" than life in prison.

    Dunham also said a "fast-track" state process could also mean more delays in federal proceedings.

    "There's no argument to try to speed it up any further," Dellapiana said. "It's only going to cost more and increase the possibility of innocent people being executed, so I don't see anybody signing up to support such a bad idea."

    Still, lawmakers are pushing forward with the discussion.

    Ray, who did not attend Wednesday's meeting because he was traveling for work, said he'll study the information, but it's not going to "deter" him.

    "People will present all different kinds of opinions, but my job is to find the most efficient and effective way," he said. "And I've met with some judges, and I've seen some areas we can make changes. Even if we take five years off of (the appeals process), that's five years we will save the taxpayer."

    Ray said information presented at the meeting was "skewed" because it only addressed legal costs and not other expenses associated with life without parole sentences, such as medical costs for aging inmates.

    "The reason we're talking about this is not because we're a blood thirsty Legislature and we just want to hurry up and execute everyone," said Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross.

    Lawmakers are "digging deep" on the costs and what makes the process take so long, Weiler said. The length of the appeals process can be difficult for victims' families, he said.

    Legislative fiscal analysts estimate a capital murder case from trial to execution in Utah costs state and local governments $1.6 million more on average than a life without parole case.

    Nine condemned death-row killers in Utah have yet to exhaust all of their appeals in state and federal courts. The average length of stay on death row among those men is just over 23 years, with Ron Lafferty and Douglas Carter being the longest at 31 years, and Floyd Maestas the shortest at eight years.

    The last person to be executed in Utah was Ronnie Lee Gardner, who was killed by firing squad in 2010 after spending 24 years on death row.

    Last year, the Utah Legislature passed a law — also sponsored by Ray — to bring back the firing squad if the lethal injection drugs aren't available. Pharmaceutical companies no longer sell the drugs for that purpose.

    Ray has said he believes there's a "98 percent chance" the state's next execution will be by firing squad.

    http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8...ls.html?pg=all

  4. #54
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mike's Avatar
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    Prominent Anti Death Penalty Senator Resigning

    Sen. Urquhart resigns from Utah Senate

    ST. GEORGE – Sen. Steve Urquhart announced Wednesday that he is retiring from the Utah Senate, four months ahead of what would have been the conclusion of his last term with the Legislature.

    In a letter to Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, the Republican senator from St. George detailed his initial intent to finish his last term in the Legislature, but “things are moving faster than I had anticipated with my post legislative life,” he said. His last effective day as a Utah legislator will be Friday.

    Urquhart is currently splitting time between St. George and Salt Lake City, he said, and will soon move, which will take him out of Senate District 29.

    “I will live outside my district and, therefore, meaning that I will need to resign my Senate seat,” Urquhart wrote.

    Urquhart has served in the Legislature since 2001 – eight years in the House and eight in the Senate.

    During that time he’s taken on issues that have, at times, stood at odds with Southern Utah’s conservative Republican base. This has included his very public support of LGBT rights and trying to get the state to abandon the death penalty.

    As for abolishing the death penalty, Urquhart said he will continue to work with lawmakers and others to see that goal brought to fruition.

    https://www.stgeorgeutah.com/news/ar.../#.V9F6wsv6t9A

    Finally some good news!
    "There is a point in the history of a society when it becomes so pathologically soft and tender that among other things it sides even with those who harm it, criminals, and does this quite seriously and honestly. Punishing somehow seems unfair to it, and it is certain that imagining ‘punishment’ and ‘being supposed to punish’ hurts it, arouses fear in it." Friedrich Nietzsche

  5. #55
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Death penalty bills to return to the Utah State Legislature

    By Ben Winslow
    fox13now.com

    SALT LAKE CITY — Bills for and against the death penalty are expected to be debated in the 2017 session of the Utah State Legislature.

    Capital punishment bills are being considered on the 40th anniversary of Gary Gilmore’s execution. The Utah inmate was the first to be executed following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reinstated the death penalty. Gilmore was executed by firing squad.

    Death penalty supporters and opponents are expected to be back on Utah’s Capitol Hill to argue for bills.

    “I feel very compelled that I have to do this,” said Randy Gardner, the brother of condemned killer Ronnie Lee Gardner, who was the last man to be executed in Utah (who also died by firing squad).

    Randy Gardner spoke to FOX 13 from Washington, D.C. where he was participating in protests against capital punishment. He said he would be pushing the Utah State Legislature to favor a repeal of the death penalty.

    “I say to my kids, ‘Why do we kill people to show people that killing is wrong?’ I believe it makes murderers out of us,” he said.

    There are nine people on Utah’s death row. The state has firing squad as a method of execution, if lethal injection is not available. Right now, the Utah Department of Corrections has said it does not have the ability to carry out a lethal injection execution.

    http://fox13now.com/2017/01/16/death...e-legislature/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  6. #56
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    State representative sponsoring two death penalty bills

    By Glen Mills
    Good4Utah

    Salt Lake City, Utah - A battle is brewing over the death penalty on Utah's Capitol Hill.

    Representative Paul Ray says the state needs to send a strong message about what's going on across the country.

    "We have people that are out across the country who are out targeting and trying to kill police officers, because of who they are. We want to say, you know what, in Utah we're not going to do that. We're going to get some protections," said Ray, (R) Clearfield.

    Ray is sponsoring a bill he says will create those protections.

    It would require prosecutors to seek the death penalty for anyone who targets and kills an officer or member of the military.

    He says it would then be up to a jury to decide if the sentence should be carried out.

    The ACLU of Utah is waiting to see the wording of the bill, but says there are some potential problems.

    "We know from Supreme Court rulings that it is not constitutional to have a mandatory punishment for any type of crimes. So, having the death penalty be mandatory would definitely run afoul of the Constitution, so that's definitely a problem to be looking for," said Marina Lowe, Legislative Counsel with the ACLU.

    Ray is also sponsoring a bill to make human traffickers eligible for the death penalty.

    "If you bring somebody into human trafficking and they die for some reason, you could ultimately be charged with a capital offense and be subject to the death penalty, because you are responsible for that individuals death," said Ray.

    Both bills will face resistance.

    House Minority Leader Brian King wants to see the death penalty abolished.

    "The thing that worries me about the death penalty is that there a lot of examples of indications where we have put innocent people to death," said King, (D) Salt Lake City.

    King is also concerned about racial and financial disparity.

    But, Ray is determined to push forward.

    "You hear the argument all the time, well we are killing innocent people. We're not doing that in Utah, you know people we are killing deserve to die, so we want to make sure we maintain that," said Ray.

    The human trafficking bill, House Bill 176 was made public Tuesday.

    The one for police officers should be public by the end of the week.

    http://www.good4utah.com/news/top-st...ills/645008704
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  7. #57
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Panel OKs death penalty for sex trafficking deaths

    By Hallie Golden
    The Associated Press

    SALT LAKE CITY — A plan that would expand capital punishment in Utah so that criminals convicted of aggravated human trafficking or child sex exploitation that leads to death could be executed has made it through its first test on Friday.

    Members of a House law enforcement and criminal justice committee voted 6-5 to approve the proposal, despite concern from both lawmakers and members of the public that the plan would be costly and is unnecessary.

    Ralph Dellapiana, of the Utah Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, spoke out against the proposal during the hearing, saying that the courts only allow the death penalty to be used on the “worst of the worst.”

    The bill “seems to capture people that would not normally be deemed the worst of the worst,” he said during the hearing.

    Proposal sponsor Republican Rep. Paul Ray said human trafficking is a big problem in Utah, so he wants to hold the leaders of human trafficking rings accountable.

    “I want to be able to pull down a cartel kingpin or somebody and put them on death row if women or girls are dying in their trafficking rings,” he told The Associated Press.

    The proposal is only the latest effort by Ray to institute hardline death-penalty plans. He ushered in a law in 2015 allowing Utah to use firing squads in executions if the state can’t obtain lethal injection drugs.

    The bill next moves to the full House of Representatives for consideration.

    The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah spoke against the proposal, saying it is more effective to provide support and protections for the actual victims of human trafficking.

    ACLU spokesperson Anna Thomas said the death penalty is ineffective, as it almost never results in the sentence being given, and is more costly than a life sentence.

    “There’s also this troubling trend in Utah where for every very serious social ill, Rep. Ray is really quick to offer the death penalty as a solution,” she said. “And it never works and it will never work.”

    Ray said he believes an inmate spending life in prison would be more expensive because of medical costs and court appeals.

    The lawmaker tried to pass a similar bill last year, but it died in a Senate committee.

    Execution law in the U.S. dictates that crimes must involve a victim’s death or treason against the government to be eligible for the death penalty.

    Ray said he also plans to introduce a proposal this year that would require the death penalty if someone kills a police officer. The plan is meant to punish someone who wakes up one morning and specifically decides to kill a police officer because of their job, he said.

    The ACLU said the proposal is redundant since the death penalty can already be sought if someone kills a law enforcement officer.

    http://www.postregister.com/articles...ficking-deaths
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #58
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
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    Utah Department of Corrections releases Technical Manual for their execution process

    When Emily Hopkins requested death penalty procedures from the Utah Department of Corrections (UDC) in 2015, they were met with a rejection, and after that a denied appeal. However, whether it was the result of a new public records officer or a change in UDC policy, a request filed this year led to the release of the Technical Manual used in carrying out executions, including procedures for the firing squad.

    It is a prolonged process, generally beginning at least a month before the date of execution. First the Warden forms an Execution Planning Team, which chooses members of the various smaller teams and squads who work to carry out the judgement, develop a schedule, and to secure any equipment or drugs.

    The list of witnesses to the execution must be completed a minimum of two weeks before the date of execution, and carries strict rules: the condemned may only choose five family members, friends, or religious figures to be there at the moment of death, and witnesses have to sign forms in order to view the execution. Regulations on the news media are also stringent, although after the death has taken place they are given catered refreshments for their time.

    If the execution method is lethal injection, the drugs are also purchased around this time, usually at least seven days prior to the actual date of execution. Utah uses a mixture of Sodium Thiopental, Pancuronium Bromide, Potassium Chloride, and Valium.

    The volunteers to carry out the lethal injection are thoroughly screened and must be phlebotomists (specialists in drawing blood via syringe), and be an actively certified medical professional with EMT experience. Three complete rehearsals must be completed before they take part in the execution. This same strictness goes for members of the firing squad as well, with volunteers required to be licensed law enforcement officers, and having to pass a firearms proficiency test where if they fail to hit the target even once with the prescribed .30 caliber rifle, they are disqualified.

    Utah and Oklahoma are the last states in the country to allow for the firing squad, though that might change. While there have only been three since the seventies, with the last coming in the 2010 when Ronnie Lee Gardner was put to death, any conviction prior to 2004 is grandfathered in to allow for execution by firing squad. Utah had initially banned the practice in 2004, but in 2015 undid this by enacting an amendment allowing for a firing squad in case of the state being unable to procure the necessary drugs for lethal injection. Judging from our interview with prominent death penalty reporter Chris McDaniel, that certainly seems to be in the cards. Furthermore, all three of the next inmates on death row set to be executed by the state of Utah have chosen death by firing squad.

    Returning to the process, after all of the briefings, system checks, rehearsals and the inmate’s last meal are completed the Tie-Down Team leads the condemned to the execution chamber. In the case the execution is being carried out with lethal injection, all IV’s are set in place and readied for the insertion of the lethal chemicals, and all electrodes and heart monitors are prepared before the curtains are opened and the process can begin. Before the actual drugs are injected into the body, the condemned inmate is granted an opportunity for last words, which may be cut off after two minutes or if any profanity is uttered.

    In the case of a firing squad, all rifles are loaded with two bullets, with special care taken to make sure no members of the squad are aware of who was given the rifle with the non-lethal wax bullets. A count down cadence begins, and the first volley is fired.

    If the subject is still conscious after the prison physician checks for pulse, a second volley may be immediately readied, and fired upon the team leader's countdown. If, however, the condemned is unconscious but still shows signs of life, there must be a ten minute waiting period before they check again. If life is still present, then a second volley may finally be fired to finish the tragic affair. This is also true of lethal injection, more chemicals can only be given if after the completion of all steps and a ten minute waiting period there are still signs of life found. Considering the amount of lethal injections that have resulted in prolonged, tormented deaths, one would have liked to see a more robust policy for dealing with situations where the execution doesn’t go as planned.

    After cleaning up the execution chamber and removing the body, the work for the execution team members isn’t over. Instead they actually have to fill out forms about whether they were adequately trained or whether they saw anything that wasn’t addressed properly. Paperwork is a roundly terrible thing, and I would bet it is even worse after having to witness the death of a human being in an execution chamber, to say the very least.

    https://www.muckrock.com/news/archiv...enalty-manual/
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  9. #59
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    Firing squads to be used in upcoming Utah executions

    As Arkansas rushes to execute several death row inmates due to execution drugs expiring soon, an even more macabre immorality is developing in Utah: 3 death row inmates have all elected to be killed by firing squad, a method that's still on the books as a sort of next resort if execution drugs are unable to be obtained in the appropriate amount of time.

    As manufacturers of propofol and other execution drugs refuse to sell to states as a stand against the death penalty, death by lethal injection becomes more difficult to pull off.

    Utah's execution methods are actually quite complicated: in 2004, death by firing squad was overturned, as the Utah legislature cited the amount of attention drawn as creating difficulty for the affected families. Then, in 2015, this was partially changed.

    Now, if execution drugs are in short supply, firing squads can be used as a backup method. Furthermore, those sentenced to death before 2004 are grandfathered and can decide their execution method, if they so choose, according to the options available at the time of sentencing.

    Taberon Dave Honie, Troy Michael Kell, and Ralph Leroy Menzies are all current death row inmates who have elected to die by firing squad. Although execution dates have not been set, many of them have been imprisoned for several decades.

    Convicted of heinous murders and rapes, these 3 men seem to have inflicted horrible pain on others. Still, why should we kill at all? Our justice system has overwhelming flaws, from lack of proper indigent defense to tainted appeals processes. It's crazy for us to openly acknowledge the error in the system and still put people to death. We need to stop pretending this is what dispensing justice looks like.

    MuckRock recently obtained the Utah Department of Corrections' execution manual, detailing protocols currently in place. On the issue of government transparency, it's unbelievable that such a document wasn't public in the first place, but had to be obtained via FOIA request. Such a request was initially denied in 2015, but recently released.

    The details outlined are grotesque, but the unfortunate standard in many states: 2 rounds must be loaded into each weapon, with 1 weapon shooting blanks. A target should be placed over the heart of the one being executed. There are countdowns and waiting periods and the last words are supposed to be recorded via audio, then destroyed within 24 hours of the execution. One can't help but think that if information like this were made more public, fewer people would be able to stomach the horror of the death penalty.

    Some believe firing squads are more humane as lethal injection has been scrutinized due to the high prevalence of botched executions. Others argue that firing squads disallow us to be detached from the real matter at hand: the taking of a human life. For this reason, some death penalty abolitionists see firing squads as the easiest way of changing public opinion. The gruesome nature of firing squads reminds us that execution isn't some sanitized, near-medical procedure done by a phlebotomist in a dimmed room, but rather the killing of a human being.

    Many scholars and activists think the recent controversy in Arkansas is bringing legal issues with the death penalty to light, exposing procedural problems and leaving pits in the bottoms of people's stomachs as they begin to realize what the death penalty looks like up close. Hopefully, as Utah's firing squads are examined further, people will begin to realize that our repugnant idea of justice needs to be reformed.

    http://www.deathandtaxesmag.com/3279...ecutions-foia/

  10. #60
    Senior Member CnCP Legend CharlesMartel's Avatar
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    Bill stirs debate over costs of death penalty

    By Becky Ginos
    The Davis Clipper

    LAYTON — The subject of the death penalty has been a source of controversy for years, but one lawmaker is hitting it from a different angle with a proposed bill for the upcoming legislative session.

    Rep. Stephen Handy, R-Layton, wants the state to take a closer look at the costs connected with the death penalty and associated appeals versus the cost to house an inmate for life without parole.

    “I was reading about what another state (Nebraska) was doing about costs and I wanted to look into Utah,” said Handy. “When I started to ask around, I heard crickets – nobody knew because nobody had asked before. I decided to pitch a study item in 2012 for resources to have an analyst research it and he worked over several weeks with the assumptions of longevity being 75 years and how long the appeals process takes being about 25 years.”

    The appeals are taxpayer supported because the death row inmates don’t hire an attorney Handy said, they use a public defender. “The study showed it cost (approximately) $1.6 million more of taxpayer money for appeals over the cost of a life sentence,” he said. “I was trying to be fiscally conservative and add to the discussion but nothing happened. Then someone suggested I wasn’t asking the right questions.”

    Last year Handy ran a similar bill HB187 but it did not pass. “This (new) bill has mostly the same language but has specific things asking for the legislative auditor to look at it,” he said. “The auditor’s office is excited to take on this study. It could take up to nine months.”

    Handy is quick to point out that his bill is not intended to abolish the death penalty, simply to consider the costs. “Personally I’ve been all over the place with the death penalty,” he said. “I’d say I’m more against it but it’s something I’ve struggled with all my life. It happens so infrequently here in Utah. I don’t think the populace in Utah is ready to get rid of it but this lets people think about it.”

    Currently there are nine inmates on death row in Utah according to the Utah Department of Corrections.

    “If you talk to law enforcement they say the cost is not relevant, more of an eye for an eye,” said Handy. “It’s a very emotional topic. I could be convinced one way or another (on the death penalty) depending on the crime in front of me but this bill has nothing to do with the pros or cons.”

    Bountiful Police Chief Tom Ross, who is also president of the Utah Chiefs of Police Association, said he is supportive of gathering data.

    “I haven’t seen the language of the bill but I wouldn’t be opposed to looking at costs,” he said. “It’s a positive thing to do research on the pros and cons of any issue. It helps to make the best decisions on determining costs and getting the facts. If it went to abolishing the death penalty that would be a different discussion. I’ve worked with Rep. Handy before and even if we don’t always agree, I appreciate that he is good to work with.”

    Even if the bill passes there is no guarantee it will happen, said Handy. “The legislative audit committee decides where to put those resources and what the pressing needs are,” he said. “They’re doing a number of audits a year to give the legislature information. They’re the watchdogs for the public. The committee could still say ‘not this year, maybe next year.’”

    No matter the outcome, Handy believes it’s an important topic. “I just want to have a robust study to look at the comparison on cost,” he said. “We’ll see where it goes, whether the public wants to pursue it. But it advances the discussion.”

    http://www.davisclipper.com/view/ful...es_left_column

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