KS death penalty debate full of sound and fury, went out with a whimper

KS death penalty debate full of sound and fury, went out with a whimper

We’re cutting programs for pregnant women,” said the bill’s main sponsor, Sen. Carolyn McGinn, a Sedgwick Republican. “We’re cutting programs that support families. These programs are very much needed to prevent future horrible, heinous acts… I think we stop future murders (with) … the kind of programs that help mothers, children; provide facilities for those who have deviant behavior to be locked up away from our society.”

Monday’s death penalty debate in the Kansas Senate featured hours of impassioned rhetoric. Personal stories of loss and human brutality. Up in the visitor’s gallery sat a Catholic priest; a few rows over, the grim-faced loved ones of murder victims. In short, the debate on a bill to repeal the state’s death penalty was on track to be a legislative classic.

The end result? The Senate passed a motion to send the bill back to committee, where it will likely languish for the rest of the year.

The anticlimactic end to a much-hyped debate came after Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, a death penalty supporter, shot the bill full of holes, saying inadvertent errors in the bill made it unworkable.

First, a little background: Backers of the legislation say the death penalty is too expensive and not effective. They say that while the state is cutting funding to every department, it should also consider repealing the death penalty to save all the money now spent on death penalty appeals.

They note that Kansas has spent millions putting men on death row since the state reinstated capital punishment in 1994. Yet the state hasn’t executed anyone since 1965.

“We’re cutting programs for pregnant women,” said the bill’s main sponsor, Sen. Carolyn McGinn, a Sedgwick Republican. “We’re cutting programs that support families. These programs are very much needed to prevent future horrible, heinous acts… I think we stop future murders (with) … the kind of programs that help mothers, children; provide facilities for those who have deviant behavior to be locked up away from our society.”

Sen. David Haley, a KCK Democrat, noted that most western nations outlawed the death penalty, which he called a “barbaric custom.”

“We’re right in there with Russia, Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran. China, Algeria and North Korea,” he said. “I’m not especially proud of the company our country keeps… How much sense it does it really make to want to murder people who murder people. Is that really who you want to be today?” 

You get the idea. It’s about as close as Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and “You can’t handle the truth!” as Kansas Senators get.

Opponents took a few different routes during Monday’s debate. Some said it’s wrong to make the death penalty about dollars and sense. They argued the death penalty is a moral issue; that citizens need to know the state reserves the ultimate punishment for the ultimate crime.

Sen. Susan Wagle, a Wichita Republican, likened repealing the death penalty to abortion and euthanasia, other examples that she says shows a disturbing lack of respect for life.

“I think $723,000 is a very small amount of money when it comes to justice,” she said. “I think ... this step we’re taking towards repealing the death penalty is just another step towards the devaluation of the unique significance of human life that our culture is stumbling towards.”

Others talked about how the death penalty deters crime and allows prosecutors to bargain with defendants.

Still other senators questioned the cost argument, saying the state would spend just as much fighting the appeals of murderers sentenced to life.

Senator Jeff Colyer, an Overland Park Republican, talked about a medical mission to Rwanda shortly after the genocide. He witnessed brutal atrocities, he said, that convinced him that evil exists and that good must do something about it.

Sen. Ralph Ostmeyer told the story of his sister’s murder, and how the loss haunts his family still, 30 years later.

“The fact is, there are some crimes so heinous so despicable that being locked up in prison, even for life, is not justice. I believe it is important for the state to assure the citizens that justice will be meted,” said Sen. Steve Abrams, an Arkansas City Republican.

And then there was Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt, who pretty much single handedly sent the bill packing Monday. Schmidt, an Independence Republican, supports the death penalty.

But instead of grant oratory in defense of capital punishment, Schmidt plunged into the bowels of the 48-page bill. The Senate, he noted “is not just a philosophical debating society.”

“We’re not voting on capital punishment,” he said. “We’re voting on SB 208. SB 208 is not ready for prime time.”

What was wrong with it? Schmidt explained, at great length.

• A mistake could inadvertently remove the state’s life-without-parole law.
• Another would allow the governor to commute life sentences.
• Questions about how the bill would impact the cases and appeals of men already on death row, and those facing capital trials.

At the end of Schmidt’s 30-minute dressing down, even supporters of the repeal looked a little dismayed. Schmidt motioned to kill the bill, but he was talked down by colleagues who suggested it be sent back to committee.

Judiciary Committee Chairman Tim Owens, an Overland Park Republican, said he won’t have time to revisit the issue before the end of the session (they’ve got about 3 weeks of full-time work left).

But he insists the issue will return, and hopefully get a definitive vote when it does.

“It needs to be decided, not shoved under the carpet,” Owens said.

Submitted by David Klepper on March 17, 2009 - 1:48pm.
Kansas | login or register to post comments | 206 reads

Did the demagogues win?

Submitted by Skeptic on March 17, 2009 - 8:50pm.

Derek Schmidt, the snake who took big money from, then tried to bring outlawed for-profit prisons to Kansas, removed the possibility of an up or down vote from the Kansas Senate. He had previously labored along with his scurrilous colleague, bunco artist and former representative Trish Kilpatrick to repeal the ban on these awful and dangerous prisons. She was later criminally convicted for theft. Kilpatrick probably had even more ethics violations than Phill Kline.

Schmidt badly wants to be Attorney General so we can expect more of this behavior from him. Derek's objections, had they a shred of legitimacy, could have been cleaned up by the House or a conference committee. He's using a parliametary issue to place Kansas alongside the most bestial regimes in the world. Not one country in Western Europe has retained the death penalty. Some of the other stunts Schmidt has pulled included forcing anyone convicted of adultery to register as a sex offender in Kansas.

Steve Abrams, who repeatedly covered up his colleague Connie Morris' thefts while he chaired the anti-evolution State Board of Education, claims he's a "Christian." But he goes back to the pre-Christian Bronze Age "eye for an eye" system of vigilante vengance.

Susan Wagle, who loudly claims to be "pro-life" shows her true colors when her blood lust gets an opportunity to boil to the surface. She is more worried about stem cell research than she is about killing a human being who in fact might be innocent. Dozens of death row inmates have been exonerated in recent years. I know one, Ray Crone, who had never been in trouble in his life until he was convicted of a murder he had no knowledge of. It was only until a DNA test, administered reluctantly after he served ten years proved the crime was committed by a repeat convicted rapist.

A Rose Hill (near Wichita) man served
21 1/2 years for poisoning his children when it should have been obvious the babysitter did it. He was only taken off death row after Furman v. Georgia, which clarified due process conditions for murder suspects. The babysitter died while awaiting trial for killing the first of her two poisoned husbands.

We should all trust Colyer, who lied about where he lived so he could run for an open seat, financing his campaign largely out of his pocket and counting on lobbyists to pay him back. He's a doctor. He's apparently forgotten the "Do no harm principle." The great preponderance of U.S. physicians refuse to participate in such a barbaric medieval rite.

Thank goodness we have people such as David Haley and others equally responsible and moral in our Legislature.

Ritual executions that cheapen all life, have no place in a civilized society. Shame on the opponents of this bill especially those named above.

Technorati Tags: death,fury,Carolyn,McGinn,Sedgwick,Republican,children,facilities,behavior,

Kansas,Senate,rhetoric,Personal,human,visitor,gallery,Catholic,priest,

victims,result,committee,Leader,Derek,Schmidt,supporter,background,

department,money,capital,punishment,David,Haley,Democrat,custom,

Russia,Afghanistan,Iraq,Iran,China,Algeria,North,Korea,Smith,

Washington,truth,Senators,Some,crime,Susan,Wagle,Wichita,life,

justice,devaluation,significance,culture,Still,cost,argument,Senator,

Jeff,Colyer,Overland,Park,mission,Rwanda,atrocities,Ralph,Ostmeyer,

fact,prison,Steve,Abrams,Arkansas,Independence,supports,oratory,

defense,bowels,length,Another,governor,impact,cases,supporters,

colleagues,Judiciary,Chairman,Owens,session,needs,carpet,Klepper,

March,comments,Skeptic,colleague,artist,Trish,Kilpatrick,theft,ethics,

Phill,Kline,Attorney,General,legitimacy,House,conference,world,

Western,Europe,stunts,adultery,offender,Connie,Morris,evolution,

State,Board,Education,Christian,Bronze,system,cell,Dozens,

knowledge,Hill,Furman,Georgia,doctor,principle,preponderance,r

ite,Thank,Legislature,Ritual,Shame,errors,Backers,nations,Opponents,

examples,murderers,crimes,prisons,violations,objections,regimes,thefts,i

nmates,physicians,executions,women,barbaric,towards,babysitter