No Moratorium on Death Penalty
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No Moratorium on Death Penalty

Date: May 13, 2009
By: Rebecca Layne
State Capitol Bureau
Links: SB 26

Intro: A moratorium on the death penalty got voted down in the House despite ardent protests from Democrat Representatives. RunTime:1:01
OutCue: SOC

Republican Representative Stanley Cox of Sedalia voted against the moratorium and says the appeals process is its own stay of execution.

 

Actuality:  COX.WAV
Run Time: 00:18
Description: The appellate procedure lasts 10, 12, 15 years. In a sense, you could make an argument that we dont have the death penalty. But the truth is that we have the death penalty only after an exhaustive appeals, not only through the state system to the federal system.


Unlike Representative Cox, Democrat Jonas Hughes of Jackson County argued to keep the moratorium in the bill.

He says the legal system is rarely flawless.

Actuality:  HUGHES.WAV
Run Time: 00:16
Description: So how can we sit here and say that it's perfect, it's flawless, we can just go ahead, strap them in and throw the switch, we know they're guilty, when I've just met 50 people in the last month that were in jail and wrongfully convicted?

The amendment to get rid of the moratorium on the death penalty passed with a vote of 95 "yes" to 64 "no."

Reporting from Jefferson City, I'm Rebecca Layne ... KSMU.