softheart
02-05-2003, 02:23 PM
I pray this is passed, if they have a brain and any heart it will be.
softie
TEXAS:
Bills provide third option for jurors --Life-without-parole sentence for
capital murderers is sought
2 lawmakers want to give juries the option of sentencing capital
murderers to life in prison with no chance of parole.
Current Texas law allows a jury to sentence a person convicted of capital
murder to either death by injection or life in prison, which in Texas
means an inmate can be eligible for parole after serving 40 years.
Texas is 1 of 4 states that does not offer life without parole. Sen.
Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, sponsor of the proposal, Senate Bill 348,
said Texas juries should have such an option.
"This measure would assure every citizen that their neighborhoods would
be safe from dangerous criminals in cases where the jury does not impose
the death penalty," Lucio said.
Similar measures in past legislative sessions were opposed by prosecutors
who believed a life-without-parole option would make it harder to get
death sentences in capital murder cases.
Lucio, who said he supports the death penalty, said his proposal would
not deter jurors from selecting the death penalty.
Lucio said the third option would provide victims' families closure,
knowing that the murderer will spend his or her life behind bars.
Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, filed a similar bill, House Bill 590,
because he said it's important to provide jurors an option.
"I think that juries ought to have a way to do something other than
sentence a person to death," Dutton said. "Right now, that's not
available in Texas ... because we've always had that sort of kill 'em
mentality."
Diane Beckham, senior staff council of the Texas District and County
Attorneys Association, said prosecutors do not have one set position, but
have different concerns about the proposal.
"Different prosecutors have different ideas about whether or not life
without parole would be a good idea to implement," Beckham said.
Prosecutors' concerns include whether jurors would be confused with a
third option and additional costs incurred through medical expenses from
longer incarcerations, she said.
"Prosecutors are always going to be concerned with the process as how
this is carried out," Beckham said.
"The older they get, the more medical care they need so medical costs
rise, likely higher than somebody who has been living on the outside,"
Beckham said.
Dutton said he could not see how jurors would be confused.
"I can't see how there can be any confusion. Prosecutors typically in
Harris County probably feel that they are more likely to get a death
sentence if they don't have that (option). They think the juries might be
inclined to forgo the death penalty if the jury had another option,"
Dutton said.
Keith Hampton, director of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers
Association, said he disagreed with concerns of additional costs for the
state from the 3rd option because of the prisoner's life expectancy.
"It will only cost the state more money if you imagine that people who
are given a life sentence will somehow live to be 100 behind bars,"
Hampton said.
The life expectancy of a prisoner is 64 years, 10 years earlier than the
average general population, said Tony Fabelo, executive director of the
Criminal Justice Policy Council, a state agency.
Fabelo said that the council determined that a similar bill filed by
Lucio in 2001 would not have a significant impact on increasing the
prison population because with a 40-year minimum sentence, those
offenders will never be released from prison because of life expectancy
and parole.
In the last session, Lucio's bill passed the Senate but didn't make it
out of the House.
(source: Houston Chronicle)
softie
TEXAS:
Bills provide third option for jurors --Life-without-parole sentence for
capital murderers is sought
2 lawmakers want to give juries the option of sentencing capital
murderers to life in prison with no chance of parole.
Current Texas law allows a jury to sentence a person convicted of capital
murder to either death by injection or life in prison, which in Texas
means an inmate can be eligible for parole after serving 40 years.
Texas is 1 of 4 states that does not offer life without parole. Sen.
Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, sponsor of the proposal, Senate Bill 348,
said Texas juries should have such an option.
"This measure would assure every citizen that their neighborhoods would
be safe from dangerous criminals in cases where the jury does not impose
the death penalty," Lucio said.
Similar measures in past legislative sessions were opposed by prosecutors
who believed a life-without-parole option would make it harder to get
death sentences in capital murder cases.
Lucio, who said he supports the death penalty, said his proposal would
not deter jurors from selecting the death penalty.
Lucio said the third option would provide victims' families closure,
knowing that the murderer will spend his or her life behind bars.
Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, filed a similar bill, House Bill 590,
because he said it's important to provide jurors an option.
"I think that juries ought to have a way to do something other than
sentence a person to death," Dutton said. "Right now, that's not
available in Texas ... because we've always had that sort of kill 'em
mentality."
Diane Beckham, senior staff council of the Texas District and County
Attorneys Association, said prosecutors do not have one set position, but
have different concerns about the proposal.
"Different prosecutors have different ideas about whether or not life
without parole would be a good idea to implement," Beckham said.
Prosecutors' concerns include whether jurors would be confused with a
third option and additional costs incurred through medical expenses from
longer incarcerations, she said.
"Prosecutors are always going to be concerned with the process as how
this is carried out," Beckham said.
"The older they get, the more medical care they need so medical costs
rise, likely higher than somebody who has been living on the outside,"
Beckham said.
Dutton said he could not see how jurors would be confused.
"I can't see how there can be any confusion. Prosecutors typically in
Harris County probably feel that they are more likely to get a death
sentence if they don't have that (option). They think the juries might be
inclined to forgo the death penalty if the jury had another option,"
Dutton said.
Keith Hampton, director of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers
Association, said he disagreed with concerns of additional costs for the
state from the 3rd option because of the prisoner's life expectancy.
"It will only cost the state more money if you imagine that people who
are given a life sentence will somehow live to be 100 behind bars,"
Hampton said.
The life expectancy of a prisoner is 64 years, 10 years earlier than the
average general population, said Tony Fabelo, executive director of the
Criminal Justice Policy Council, a state agency.
Fabelo said that the council determined that a similar bill filed by
Lucio in 2001 would not have a significant impact on increasing the
prison population because with a 40-year minimum sentence, those
offenders will never be released from prison because of life expectancy
and parole.
In the last session, Lucio's bill passed the Senate but didn't make it
out of the House.
(source: Houston Chronicle)