Post by SoulTrainOz on Jul 27, 2006 6:27:04 GMT -5
Injection should be Virginia's sole method for executions, he says
BY MICHAEL HARDY, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, an opponent of the death penalty, said yesterday that Virginia should abandon the use of the electric chair as an option in executions.
"I think it should be lethal injection only," the governor said, arguing that it is "an odd quirk" that Virginia gives death-row inmates the choice between the two methods.
Virginia has given condemned prisoners the option since Jan. 1, 1995. Previously, the state had used only the electric chair.
In a later interview, Kevin Hall, Kaine's spokesman, elaborated on Kaine's remarks. "The governor believes that the lethal injection procedure is more humane," Hall said. "Most states that have adopted lethal injection discontinued alternate forms of punishment."
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 37 of the 38 states with death penalties provide for lethal injection. Ten states have electric chairs but in only Nebraska is electrocution the only means of execution.
Since condemned inmates were given a choice in Virginia, 69 have died by lethal injection while four asked for the electric chair. The most recent was Brandon Wayne Hedrick, executed last week for a 1997 rape and murder in Appomattox County.
If death-row inmates such as Michael Lenz, set to die tomorrow, refuse to pick, lethal injection becomes the default method.
In other comments on his monthly radio call-in show, Kaine reiterated his faith-based stand against capital punishment. "I don't think we need the death penalty," the governor said. He said most civilized nations don't impose the punishment.
Despite his opposition, he has refused to intervene in two cases, though he granted a six-month reprieve to an inmate in another in order to have him tested extensively on his legal competence.
"You can trust me, I will follow the law," said Kaine. In such clemency petitions, Kaine explained that he considers whether there's significant doubt about guilt or there were gross procedural irregularities in the case.
There is "no cookie cutter" to make the decisions, Kaine said on Washington Post radio. Later yesterday, Hall said, "the governor was expressing a personal point of view, not a legislative agenda."
Source : Richmond Times-Dispatch
www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_Ba
BY MICHAEL HARDY, Richmond Times-Dispatch
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, an opponent of the death penalty, said yesterday that Virginia should abandon the use of the electric chair as an option in executions.
"I think it should be lethal injection only," the governor said, arguing that it is "an odd quirk" that Virginia gives death-row inmates the choice between the two methods.
Virginia has given condemned prisoners the option since Jan. 1, 1995. Previously, the state had used only the electric chair.
In a later interview, Kevin Hall, Kaine's spokesman, elaborated on Kaine's remarks. "The governor believes that the lethal injection procedure is more humane," Hall said. "Most states that have adopted lethal injection discontinued alternate forms of punishment."
According to the Death Penalty Information Center, 37 of the 38 states with death penalties provide for lethal injection. Ten states have electric chairs but in only Nebraska is electrocution the only means of execution.
Since condemned inmates were given a choice in Virginia, 69 have died by lethal injection while four asked for the electric chair. The most recent was Brandon Wayne Hedrick, executed last week for a 1997 rape and murder in Appomattox County.
If death-row inmates such as Michael Lenz, set to die tomorrow, refuse to pick, lethal injection becomes the default method.
In other comments on his monthly radio call-in show, Kaine reiterated his faith-based stand against capital punishment. "I don't think we need the death penalty," the governor said. He said most civilized nations don't impose the punishment.
Despite his opposition, he has refused to intervene in two cases, though he granted a six-month reprieve to an inmate in another in order to have him tested extensively on his legal competence.
"You can trust me, I will follow the law," said Kaine. In such clemency petitions, Kaine explained that he considers whether there's significant doubt about guilt or there were gross procedural irregularities in the case.
There is "no cookie cutter" to make the decisions, Kaine said on Washington Post radio. Later yesterday, Hall said, "the governor was expressing a personal point of view, not a legislative agenda."
Source : Richmond Times-Dispatch
www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_Ba