Alabama moratorium bill goes to committee; WTI cited by sponsor
March 25, 2010
Alabama moratorium bill goes to committee; WTI cited by sponsor
A bill proposing a three-year moratorium on Alabama’s use of the death penalty was referred to a subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Rep. Merika Coleman who filed House Bill 280, the Moratorium Bill. Rep.Coleman, in presenting the bill to the members of the Judiciary Committee, began by relating her experience of last November when she met and spoke with Witness to Innocence members at their gathering in Birmingham. It had been one of the largest gatherings of men who had survived death row and a truly moving experience for her. She quoted WTI member, Gary Drinkard, who had stated that if the death penalty could happen to him, a white male, it could happen to anyone who was poor in Alabama.
A debate between Rep. Coleman and Rep. Cam Ward, R-Alabaster, centered on whether the state’s capital punishment system contains sufficient safeguards to prevent execution of the innocent.
Coleman argued that a moratorium would allow sufficient time to study the system and implement safeguards ensuring due process and minimizing the risks of executing the innocent. Ward contended that the existence of people who have been exonerated from death row shows that “the system works.” He said a focus on death-row wrongful convictions was not needed because wrongful convictions are not unique to capital crimes.
After some questions from committee members, the Chair of the Committee, Rep. Marcel Black, stated that he felt that the death penalty was such a complex issue and merited further exploration. He then assigned it to a subcommittee for serious investigation and with inputs from various perspectives.
From the Birmingham News:
OUR VIEW: A committee in the Alabama House should vote in favor of a bill that would place a three-year hold on executions in the state
By Birmingham News editorial board
With all the things that need to be fixed with Alabama's broken death penalty system, it ought to be a no-brainer for lawmakers to call a timeout on executions.
Members of the House Judiciary Committee have a chance today to advance a perennial piece of legislation which would do just that -- impose a three-year freeze on executions.
The House moratorium bill, sponsored by state Rep. Merika Coleman with the backing of a number of other Birmingham-area lawmakers, would put a hold on capital punishment to give the state an opportunity to address some of the more glaring problems with the death penalty.
To be specific, the bill would require the state to use the break to put in place the necessary safeguards to make sure the death penalty is applied fairly, that capital defendants get proper legal representation, and that people aren't executed for crimes they did not commit. It also would require the state to finally put its laws in line with U.S. Supreme Court rulings that forbid the execution of people with mental retardation and people who were juveniles when they committed a capital crime.
There's every good reason for the Judiciary Committee to approve this bill so the full House can consider it. So, too, the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has passed a similar bill several times but has not yet voted this year on the moratorium bill sponsored, as always, by Sen. Hank Sanders of Selma.
This newspaper does not support the death penalty, but believes if the people of Alabama continue to support its use, steps must be taken to address the worst of its practices. Indeed, the moratorium bill ought to be something even those who favor capital punishment can back without shame.
Nobody should support a system that metes out the harshest sentences based on arbitrary characteristics such as the race of the defendant or the race of the victim. Nobody should support a system that does not ensure these defendants are represented by competent lawyers. Certainly, nobody should support a system that does not go as far as possible to ensure nobody is wrongly executed.
These are all huge problems in Alabama, which continues to be one of the busiest states when it comes to the death penalty.
The state needs to take a break and make sure, at the very least, that it is getting it right in inflicting a punishment that can't be undone. The House Judiciary Committee can take the first step today with a vote for the moratorium.
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