RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) – The Virginia Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that would abolish the death penalty, a move that if passed into law would mark a major policy change for a state that throughout its history for centuries he has led the nation in the number of executions he has carried out.
The Democrat-controlled chamber passed the bill in a 21-17 vote that split on the party line and was seen as a key obstacle to the measure. Advocates now hope the House bill will easily clarify that House, and Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam has said he supports the legislation.
Wednesday’s vote followed a long and emotional debate.
“I can think of nothing more horrible, unspeakable and wrong for a government than to use its power to execute someone who has not committed the crime of which it is accused. The problem with capital punishment is that a once inflicted it cannot be recovered, it cannot be corrected, ”said Democratic Sen. Scott Surovell, a sponsor of the bill, as he introduced it.
Democrats expressed concern about racial disparities in the application of the death penalty and noted investigations that show it does not deter crime.
Republicans urged a “no” vote on the bill, saying it would not give victims’ families a chance to do justice and expressed concern that people convicted of heinous murders were eligible for freedom. conditional.
Republican Party Sen. Bill Stanley, who had initially co-sponsored the move, spoke out angrily after a day earlier Democrats rejected attempts by Republicans to amend the law, including the changes Stanley proposed he said should be guaranteed that people convicted of aggravated murder never get out of jail.
“This could have come out today as a bipartisan effort to end the death penalty. Instead, it’s a party effort,” said Stanley, who also spoke of his personal opposition to the death penalty. Finally, he did not vote.
Republican Sen. Mark Obenshain acknowledged the “misapplications of the death penalty of decades and centuries past,” but said it should not be a reason to end the death penalty.
He described the brutal crimes committed by two men who were previously death row inmates: Ivan Teleguz, convicted in 2006 of hiring a man to kill his son ‘s mother, and Ricky Gray, who was convicted of killing a family of four, cutting his throat and setting the house on fire in 2006. Teleguz changed his sentence to life without parole in 2017; Gray was executed the same year.
“It simply came to our notice then. These are the worst of the worst, ”he said.
Democrat Janet Howell said she used to be a “fervent” supporter of the death penalty, a position she changed after her father-in-law’s murder. In an emotional testimony, he described how his murder affected his family and how they disagreed about the death penalty and the punishment his father-in-law’s killer should suffer.
“I do not buy the idea that we would support the death penalty for the benefit of the families of the victims. It doesn’t work that way. Trust me, it doesn’t work that way, “he said.
Virginia has executed nearly 1,400 people in more than four centuries, more than any other state, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. In modern times, Virginia is the second only one in Texas in number of executions since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1976.
But executions have slowed in Virginia in recent years (the last inmate sentenced to death was William Morva in 2017) and no death sentences have been imposed on the state since 2011.
Only two men remain in the death row. The Senate bill would commute his sentences to life without parole.
Democrat Mike Mullin, a prosecutor, leads the House’s legislative version. He left a committee on Wednesday with a bipartisan vote of 15 to 6 with one abstention.
If the bill is passed into law, Virginia would become the 23rd state to abolish the death penalty, according to a recent report of the Death Penalty Information Center.
Northam said in a statement that it was time for Virginia to take that step.
“I applaud all the senators who have bravely voted today and I hope to be able to sign this bill,” he said.