Nebraska lawmakers vote to repeal death penalty

Nebraska Sens. Al Davis, (from left) Ernie Chambers and Rick Kolowski chat Wednesday after Chambers’ bill to abolish the death penalty passed.
Nebraska Sens. Al Davis, (from left) Ernie Chambers and Rick Kolowski chat Wednesday after Chambers’ bill to abolish the death penalty passed.

LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska lawmakers gave final approval Wednesday to a bill abolishing the death penalty. It would be the first conservative-leaning state to do so since 1973.

Senators voted 35-12 to advance the repeal bill through the last of three required votes. The measure received enough votes in the unicameral Legislature to override a promised veto from Gov. Pete Ricketts, a supporter of capital punishment. Ricketts, a Republican, said the vote represented a "dark day" for public safety.

If Ricketts vetoes the bill, at least 30 votes would be needed to pass the bill over his objections.

"Nebraska has a chance to step into history -- the right side of history -- to take a step that will be beneficial toward the advancement of a civilized society," said Sen. Ernie Chambers, an independent who has fought for four decades to end the death penalty.

The Nebraska vote was bolstered by conservatives who oppose the death penalty for religious reasons. They cast it as a waste of taxpayer money and questioned whether government can be trusted to manage it.

Nebraska hasn't executed a prisoner since 1997, when the electric chair was used. It has never imposed the punishment under the lethal injection process now required by state law. Some lawmakers have argued that constant legal challenges will prevent the state from executing anyone in the future.

"It's certainly a matter of conscience, at least in part, but it's also a matter of trying to be philosophically consistent," said Sen. Laure Ebke, a Republican. "If government can't be trusted to manage our health care ... then why should it be trusted to carry out the irrevocable sentence of death?"

The governor announced last week that the state recently spent $54,400 to buy new lethal-injection drugs from a company in West Bengal, India. Nebraska lost its ability to carry out the punishment in December 2013, when its supply of a key drug expired.

Ricketts argued that unlike other death-penalty states, Nebraska has imposed the punishment judiciously. Nebraska has 11 men on death row.

"This is a case where the Legislature is completely out of touch with the overwhelming majority of Nebraskans that I talk to," Ricketts said.

Ricketts argued that the state's inability to carry out executions was a "management problem" that he is committed to fixing.

Maryland was the most recent state to end capital punishment, in 2013. Three other states have done so in recent years: New Mexico in 2009, Illinois in 2011, Connecticut in 2012. But the last conservative-leaning state to do so was North Dakota in 1973. Thirty-two states and the federal government allow capital punishment.

Nebraska lawmakers passed a death-penalty repeal bill once before, in 1979, but it was vetoed by then-Gov. Charles Thone. Lawmakers didn't attempt an override.

Death-penalty supporters tried to prevent the vote with a legislative filibuster, arguing that capital punishment is rarely used in the state but should remain on the books for the most heinous crimes.

Republican Sen. Beau McCoy of Omaha pointed to one of the Boston Marathon bombers, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who last week was condemned to die for his role in the 2013 attack.

"In America, we recognize with our justice system that there are appropriate punishments and sentences and consequences for appropriate crimes," McCoy said.

Republican Attorney General Doug Peterson, a death-penalty supporter, said some murders "clearly warrant" the use of capital punishment.

"Without the ability to utilize the death penalty, the state has weakened its ability to properly administer appropriate justice," he said.

Information for this article was contributed by Anna Gronewold of The Associated Press.

A Section on 05/21/2015

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