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AP: Kan. death penalty repeal tests senators

Published 2/8/2010 in Local News

TOPEKA (AP) — Sixteen years ago, Gov. Joan Finney allowed a death penalty bill to become law without her signature. The feisty Democrat said she was doing so because it was the will of Kansas' people.

Senators are prepared to give that law its first significant review when they debate a bill in the coming days to ban capital punishment and replace it with life in prison without parole. Supporters of the bill say the impetus lies again in the will of the people.

"I don't think it's a bad idea to review a significant public policy on a regular basis," said Sen. Laura Kelly, a Topeka Democrat. "We wouldn't be having this debate if the people of Kansas hadn't brought it before us. We didn't gin this up."

The bill is a revision of a measure that emerged last year in the Senate and would end the state's practice of sentencing defendants to die for committing the most heinous crimes. It would be replaced with a sentence of life without parole, and the 10 men now under death sentences would still be executed.

Others say Kansans are content with the death penalty because of its narrow application.

"The public as a whole is supportive of having the death penalty on the books," said Senate Majority Leader Derek Schmidt.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Tim Owens said the original bill was flawed and needed more work. He held three days of hearings on the bill, listening to victims' families who support the law and want justice, as well as advocates including the Catholic church, which says there are alternatives.

Owens doesn't disagree, but said he heard the bill because it is important, not for his own views.

"There's a worse penalty. If you put somebody in a little box for the rest of their lives and they don't get out and they have all of that time to contemplate why they're there, I think that's good," said Owens, an Overland Park Republican.

Sen. John Vratil said support for the repeal has been building, considering the last execution in Kansas was in 1965.

"It's not a deterrent. I think people are just coming to the realization that there's too great a potential for mistakes to be made in court," said Vratil, a Leawood Republican. "It's an educational process and especially with an issue this emotional that it takes a while for people to get comfortable with it."

Vratil said the cost of the cases initially stirred support for a repeal, but the movement this session stems from the work of the Kansas Judicial Council and others to look deeper.

Gov. Mark Parkinson doesn't disagree with reviewing the death penalty, but doesn't see a compelling reason for its repeal.

"It's perfectly appropriate for the debate to be taking place," Parkinson said. "I encourage this debate. I have not changed my position on the death penalty."

Parkinson drafted the law as a state senator in 1994, looking at what other states were doing and settling on a law that he still believes is prudent and narrowly focused.

"I didn't just write it overnight," Parkinson said.

The fact Parkinson is governor now — and not Kathleen Sebelius who was during last year's debate — is not lost on Schmidt. While Parkinson stops short of saying he would definitely veto the repeal, Schmidt thinks that's the likely outcome.

The last governor to repeal the death penalty was Edward Hoch in 1907, only to have it reinstated in 1935 by Gov. Alf Landon.

"I think he's skeptical we need to make a change," said Schmidt, an Independence Republican, adding that it has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2006.

"We don't need to review if murder should be a felony from time to time, or robbery, or the death penalty for sake of discussion," he said.

In 2009 the debate was fueled by the state budget crisis and the cost of death penalty cases. But Schmidt said this year it's more the fact Vratil, Owens and Sen. Carolyn McGinn, a Sedgwick Republican, back the repeal that it has momentum.

"Supporters of repeal have found determined champions," Schmidt said.

As majority leader, he has to balance those forces against the reality of the bill's chances of passage. He doesn't want to see victims' families have to continue to testify and defend the law unnecessarily.

The House isn't likely to debate a repeal this session should it clear the Senate, and if it did passage isn't likely given the more conservative nature of its members.

"I am very reluctant to drag everyone through this debate when the outcome is almost certainly no change in the law," Schmidt said. "I just believe it's an important tool for our justice system to have. I don't see what has changed that justifies changing the law.

"It's unfortunate."

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Death penalty repeal is SB 375.

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Kansas Legislature: http://www.kslegislature.org

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