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| California brand new execution chamber |
State Sen. Joel Anderson has been an advocate for streamlining the execution process in California, which can last for decades as appeals are heard.
In a blog post published on Patch last September, Anderson compared the number of inmates executed in Texas with the number in California, “where the average time from sentencing until punishment is about 25 years.”
Two measures to help “streamline” the state’s death penalty process were defeated Tuesday by Democrats on the Senate Public Safety Committee, according to a press release from state Sen. Joel Anderson, the plan’s chief advocate.
Only two votes favored the measures—Anderson’s and fellow Republican Tom Harman’s. At least four Democrats on the seven-member panel opposed the plan, said Anderson aide Jim Kjol.
Anderson—whose 36th District includes La Mesa, Santee, Rancho Bernardo, Poway and Ramona—said: “The Beltway Sniper was arrested, tried and convicted in two states, and executed in seven years.”
“In California these convicted death row prisoners often outlive their victims’ short lives on earth. These two measures would have helped tackle part of the unreasonable delay of enforcing the death penalty in California.”
Anderson's press release continued:
Specifically, Senate Bill 1514 would have eliminated the automatic appeal of every death penalty case and Senate Constitutional Amendment 20 would have required that any appeals of death penalty cases go to the State Court of Appeal rather than the State Supreme Court.
Both SB 1514 and SCA 20 were also supported by “Three Strikes” author Mike Reynolds, father of 18 year old Kimber Reynolds who was murdered in 1992, and by San Joaquin County District Attorney Jim Willett, a veteran prosecutor for over 31 years.
Source: LaMesa-MountHelixPatch, April 17, 2012
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