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| Nebraska's Execution Sentencing Bill Approved |
| By WOWT |
| Published: 11/26/2002 |
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Nebraska lawmakers gave final approval last week to a bill altering the way the death sentence is imposed. The measure was approved on a 38-7 vote. Governor Mike Johanns called the Legislature into session because of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June that said juries, not judges, must decide if aggravating circumstances exist to merit the death penalty Aggravating circumstances include factors such as whether a murder was especially heinous, cruel or depraved or whether it was committed for monetary gain. In Nebraska, judges have made that determination since the Legislature decided in the 1970s that there was the potential of bias by juries. The sentencing bill would have juries make the determination. Senator Ernie Chambers and Senator Kermit Brashear of Omaha, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, worked out an agreement to help the bill pass. Chambers is renowned for his ability to cripple or kill legislation he does not like. In exchange for Chambers dropping his fight against the measure, Brashear pushed to kill a bill that would have changed Nebraska's method of execution to lethal injection. Chambers and Brashear have refused to call their agreement a backroom deal. 'Deals are for people who play cards,' Chambers said. 'He and I had discussions. We had negotiations. But there was no deal.' Chambers is betting that because Nebraska is the only state with the electric chair as its sole means of execution, a court will deem it cruel and unusual punishment, leaving Nebraska without a means of executing people. He knows, however, that Johanns and the Legislature will try to pass a lethal-injection bill in the regular session that starts in January. During debate on the sentencing bill, Chambers meticulously went about building a record during two days of debate that he said will help the courts when the law is challenged - as Chambers believes will happen. Chambers believes that a court will strike down the sentencing law because it was written to be retroactive, meaning it could apply to pending cases. Legal experts differ on whether the Supreme Court's June ruling is retroactive, and even Brashaer said he would not guarantee that the bill would be retroactive. The bill also would require that only a three-judge panel sentence people to death. It also requires that a pre-sentence investigation be done before the judges pass sentence. |
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