Senate stops death penalty bill

National Catholic Reporter, April 16, 2004 by Dennis Coday

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Gov. Tim Pawlenty's proposal to reinstate the death penalty in Minnesota (NCR, Dec. 19) was voted down by senate legislative committee, making it unlikely the proposal will go any further this year. The bill asked for a constitutional amendment and would have put the capital punishment question before voters in November.

Two Republican senators, usually allies of the Republican governor, voted against the measure. "I can't justify the intentional taking of a life in the state I want to live in," Republican Sen. David Knutson told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

The vote followed two hours of sometimes-tearful testimony from witnesses on both sides of the issue. Proponents included parents and friends of murder victims and a police chief. Among the opponents were parents of other murder victims, an exonerated death row inmate, a prosecutor and Archbishop Harry Flynn of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Flynn said, "The death penalty diminishes each of us. It is a sign of growing disrespect for human life."