Post by pavel on Apr 8, 2016 23:25:34 GMT -6
The Alabama Senate Thursday approved legislation to create a commission that would allow those sentenced to death to have their convictions overturned if they can present evidence firmly establishing their innocence.
The measure, sponsored by Sen. Dick Brewbaker, R-Montgomery, passed 20 to 6. In the local delegation, both Brewbaker and Senate Minority Leader Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, voted for it.
“I’m all for the death penalty, but if we’re going to have it we need to ensure the people we are executing are in fact guilty,” Brewbaker said during a brief debate on the floor of the Senate.
The bill would establish a nine-member commission, chaired by a circuit judge. The commission would review any claims by those sentenced to death who claim “complete innocence of any criminal responsibility for the capital crime for which the person was convicted, and for which there is some credible, verifiable evidence of innocence that has not previously been presented at trial” or considered at subsequent hearings.
Read more: www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/politics/southunionstreet/2016/04/07/alabama-senate-approves-innocence-inquiry-commission/82765514/
The measure, sponsored by Sen. Dick Brewbaker, R-Montgomery, passed 20 to 6. In the local delegation, both Brewbaker and Senate Minority Leader Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, voted for it.
“I’m all for the death penalty, but if we’re going to have it we need to ensure the people we are executing are in fact guilty,” Brewbaker said during a brief debate on the floor of the Senate.
The bill would establish a nine-member commission, chaired by a circuit judge. The commission would review any claims by those sentenced to death who claim “complete innocence of any criminal responsibility for the capital crime for which the person was convicted, and for which there is some credible, verifiable evidence of innocence that has not previously been presented at trial” or considered at subsequent hearings.
Read more: www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/story/news/politics/southunionstreet/2016/04/07/alabama-senate-approves-innocence-inquiry-commission/82765514/