[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----SOUTH DAKOTA

[Rick Halperin]

Feb. 11



SOUTH DAKOTA:

Death penalty repeal defeated by Senate panel



A legislative committee has defeated a bill that would replace South Dakota's 
death penalty with a life in prison without parole sentence.

The Senate State Affairs Committee voted down the bill over calls from 2 former 
attorney generals to repeal the death sentence in South Dakota.

"I have changed my mind," said former Attorney General Mark Meierhenry. "Peace 
and dignity to me says we don't use violence to solve violence."

Pennington County State's Attorney Mark Vargo said prosecutors in the state 
have done an "extraordinary" job in limiting the number of cases in which they 
seek the death penalty.

"It is the absolute worst of the worst who face the possibility of the death 
penalty," Vargo said.

The state legislature narrowly defeated a similar effort last year by a 7-6 
vote.

(source: Argus Leader)

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Panel defeats bill to repeal death penalty in South Dakota



A legislative panel has voted down a bill that would have repealed the death 
penalty in South Dakota.

The Senate State Affairs Committee defeated the bill by a vote of 7 to 2.

Supporters said the bill would have replaced capital punishment with a life 
prison sentence without the possibility of parole.

The main sponsors of the bipartisan bill were Democratic Sen. Bernie Hunhoff, 
of Yankton, and Republican Rep. Steve Hickey, of Sioux Falls, who's also a 
pastor.

A similar bill was defeated in the Legislature last year as well.

(source: KSFY news)

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Death penalty has lost its luster



The South Dakota Legislature again dances with the death penalty. Maybe we 
should follow Crazyfornia's lead:

"Judge Carney blasted a 'dysfunctional' California justice system that leaves 
hundreds of murderers 'languishing' on death row awaiting only the remote 
possibility of execution. The implication is that convicted rapist/murderer 
Ernest Jones suffers from some constitutionally impermissible form of mental 
torment in being forced to wait too long for an execution that may never come.

"The prisoner's 25 years of anguished death contemplation, incidentally, was 
caused in large part by the state and federal appeals he filed seeking to stop 
or postpone his execution. The judge blames only California for this delay, 
rather than the prisoner filing the endless appeals." - CNN

I recall being an advocate of the death penalty. My 1st boss supported it 
because "the criminal would never do the crime again." That made sense to me. 
And my boss was a good and decent man. But all of that changed when I read 
Archbishop Charles Chaput's column of June 6, 1997, "The True Road to Justice."

Even though I still struggle with the death penalty, I know he is right. The 
archbishop's words are "True North" and I return to his compass time and again. 
This column is a worthy read.

But let's be realistic. Even though death is a "natural" occurrence to us all, 
isn't it, even in the "best" circumstances, cruel and unusual? Even with the 
best "cocktail" available for executions aren't we under some weird illusion 
that the prisoner doesn't suffer? Is our vanity so consuming that we think we 
can order death for criminals and the unborn without suffering?

Even for those with terminal illnesses and with the best medicine, love and 
faith isn't death as a "Rite of Passage" still cruel and unusual? It is the 
end; Mortification.

Yes, aren't we all on death row either as the prisoner or the executioner? 
Maybe the problem is, as the executioner, it is no longer cruel and unusual? 
Maybe we have become too tarnished to the value of life to be affected by 
death. Assisted suicide, abortion, school shootings and mass shootings have 
become all too common.

In Father Robert Barron's review of the movie "True Grit," he discusses Mattie 
Ross and her fight for justice for her father. At the end of the movie, it 
shows her walking down the street and she only has one arm; the other being 
amputated from a rattlesnake bite, or she would have died. Father Barron 
explained that she needed justice and mercy, 2 virtues to achieve her goals. 
One without the other leaves one handicapped. So it is in our society.

As Archbishop Chaput states: "Make no mistake about it - capital punishment is 
just another drug we take to ease other, much deeper anxieties about the 
direction of our culture. Executions may take away some of the symptoms for a 
time but the underlying illness - today's contempt for human life - remains and 
grows worse."

(source: Opinion, Clark Sowers----Rapid City Journal)

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Proposal Allowing Objection To Death Penalty Defeated



A legislative Committee has scuttled a proposal that would have allowed South 
Dakota residents getting a driver's license to register an objection to the 
death penalty if they are killed in a violent crime.

The House State Affairs Committee on Wednesday voted 10-2 to dismiss the 
measure, which supporters likened to the existing organ donor registration 
option.

The objections would have been stored and used to argue against the death 
penalty in the sentencing of the killer.

Republican Rep. Steve Hickey called the measure a "dying wish" bill and said 
the driver's license would be a good mechanism to reach nearly all South Dakota 
adults.

Republican Rep. Roger Solum moved to dismiss the bill. He says opposition could 
be indicated with a personal declaration and need not involve state government.

(source: Associated Press)