Ga. Senate strikes a blow to death penalty changes

ATLANTA - Georgia's bid to allow judges to sentence defendants to death without unanimous support from a jury has run into a brick wall.

The state Senate's 44-7 vote Thursday would erase last-minute changes that would allow a judge to impose the death penalty even if one or two members of the
12-person jury vote against it.

The vote means House and Senate leaders must either strike a compromise or drop the proposal completely.

``This is a disaster in criminal jurisprudence,'' said state Sen. Preston Smith, R-Rome. ``It would so completely and utterly destroy the death penalty law, it would render it ineffective.''

Smith is the author of a proposal that gives prosecutors more leeway to pursue life without parole sentences in some cases. But the death penalty provision was added to his bill by the House Wednesday in a surprise move, infuriating Smith and other Senate Republicans.

``This will create a hole in the death penalty statute you could drive a battleship through,'' said state Sen. Seth Harp, R-Midland. ``This is not the way you do it. This is one thing political grandstanding.''

The changes were sponsored by House Majority Whip Barry Fleming, a Harlem Republican who is running for Georgia's 10th Congressional District seat.

Fleming and other supporters say it is a way to prevent death penalty opponents from sabotaging capital punishments with one or two ``no'' votes, and cited cases where convicted murderers were let off the hook because of a sole dissenter.

``When a murderer tortures a victim, or rapes a child before murdering them, we should not allow a rogue juror to prevent that murderer from being brought to justice by stopping the option of capitol punishment,'' Fleming said.

But critics say it puts sacred life-or-death decisions in the hand of a judge instead of a jury, and some worried it could lead to a volley of legal challenges that could grind capital punishment in Georgia to a halt.

``Georgia's death penalty is valid, it's working and it's survived challenges,'' said state Sen. Kasim Reed, D-Atlanta. ``We should not in a reckless way put Georgia's law at risk of being challenged and allow murderers to go free.''

On the Net:
Senate Bill 145: http://www.legis.state.ga.us/

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)