NY State Senate passes legislation to amend death penalty law

Daily Record (Rochester, NY), Mar 24, 2005 by Daily Record Staff

The New York State Senate recently passed legislation that would amend the state's death penalty law to fix a provision that was ruled invalid by the state Court of Appeals.

In addition, the Senate has established an Internet website, www.DeathPenaltyNY.com, for people to sign an online petition, registering their support for fixing the death penalty law and getting it back on the books.

The death penalty is a strong deterrent to crime. Since the death penalty was enacted in 1995, the number of murders in New York State and the number of violent crimes have decreased by 40 percent, said Senator Joseph Bruno. We need to enact this bill into law to ensure that a capital punishment law is in place and can be used to protect New Yorkers and prevent dangerous, violent criminals from getting back on the streets.

In addition to signing the online petition, visitors to the website will also be able to read additional information and statistics on the impact of capital punishment to reduce crime, get more information on the death penalty bill passed by the Senate, watch video of a news conference announcing Senate action on the death penalty and receive updates on the status of the legislation.

The Court of Appeals overturned death penalty sentences, saying that judges were improperly required to instruct jurors in capital cases that if they deadlocked and failed to reach a verdict during the penalty phase of a trial, the judge would impose a sentence that would leave the defendant eligible for parole after 20 to 25 years.

This bill, which was submitted by Gov. George Pataki, would require that in addition to capital punishment or life in prison without parole, juries would be given a third option of imposing a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole when sentencing convicted murderers.

Also, the bill requires that, if a jury is deadlocked, a sentence of life without parole would be imposed, and juries would be told of that provision before sentencing. All pending capital cases, as well as crimes committed prior to the effective date of any change in the law, would be affected by the changes included in this bill.