Utah may well do away with the death penalty for our worst murderers – having life without parole instead.
GOP Gov. Gary Herbert said Wednesday that he may sign a bill that would do away with the death penalty in the state.
In his monthly KUED Channel 7 news conference, Herbert told reporters: “I would take a very hard look at” a bill being sponsored by Rep. Gage Froerer, R-Huntsville.
“It’s something I would consider signing,” Herbert added.
HB379 now sits on the House calendar, awaiting floor debate and votes. It passed out of a House standing committee 7-4 Wednesday morning.
House Speaker Greg Hughes, R-Draper, supports the bill.
He said this week that he believes doing away with the death penalty is a conservative position – because conservatives question government actions and authority, and killing someone is the ultimate government action that should be questioned.
Senate President Wayne Niederhauser, R-Sandy, told reporters that while he voted two years ago to do away with the death penalty, this year he’s become more undecided.
There is evidence he has recently seen, said Niederhauser, that the death penalty may, in some case, actually be a deterrent to some criminals deciding to kill a person or not.
“I have been vacillating” on his opinion on the ultimate penalty, he said.
A recent study by state corrections/judicial officials shows that while Utahns have been a strong supporter of the death penalty in the past, those opinions are changing.
Some estimates say it could cost up to $2 million of Utah taxpayer funds to execute a murderer.
In fact, Herbert noted that in the past he, too, has been a strong supporter of the death penalty.
He wanted the most “heinous criminals eradicated” from society.
Utah governors don’t have pardon power – he or she can’t take a person off of death row.
Herbert said it may take 20 or 25 years for a murderer to be executed in Utah.
And that is not justice for the family of the victim, nor for those being prosecuted and sentenced to death.
Justice delayed is indeed justice denied.
“I’m to the point” where the death penalty is no longer just to Utah taxpayers, either.
However, it must be clear that in Utah life without parole is, in fact, the murderer is locked up for life – and can never be paroled or let out of prison.
The bill still has to pass the House and the Senate before it can get to Herbert’s desk. It would allow those now on death row to be executed.
And it would allow prosecutors of murder cases now underway to seek the death penalty until early May of this year – outlawing the sentence after that time.
But if those things happen, Utah, a very red, conservative state, could do away with the death penalty – something not seen likely even just a few years ago.
