Kansas: Death Penalty Debate Likely Finished

Efforts to abolish the state's death penalty are likely over for this session.

Efforts to abolish the state's death penalty are likely over for this session. After hours of debating the controversial issue, senators voted right down the middle.

Senators spent the better part of 6 hours debating banning capital punishment and replacing it with a life without parole sentence. At the end of the day, the 20-20 tally meant the likely death of Senate Bill 375.

"A lot of people don't want to have this discussion...this is a debate we should have from time to time," said Wichita republican Carolyn McGinn. That wasn't the case for some; lawmakers found themselves split down the middle on whether to even debate the death penalty bill this session. They spent more than an hour arguing whether to send it back to the judicial committee, which would have essentially killed the bill this year. That wasn't the only obstacle for Senate.

Bill 375. Senate majority leader Derek Schmidt, of Independence, proposed an amendment to remove provisions of 375 that actually would abolish the death penalty. And those provisions were the heart of the measure.

If passed, it would have replaced the crime of capital murder with the offense of aggravated murder punishable with life in prison without parole.

Friday's vote would seem to indicate the Kansas death penalty, enacted in 1994 will stay in place. The state hasn't executed an inmate since 1965 and right now, there are 10 inmates on death row.

Source: WIBW News, Feb. 20, 2010