Feb. 23 IOWA: Committee takes up death penalty bill----But the Senate Democratic leader won't allow debate on the issue, which means it may not be discussed on the House floor. An Iowa House committee will consider legislation today to revive the death penalty in cases in which a child is kidnapped, sexually assaulted and killed. The House measure is similar to a bill in the Senate but adds a requirement that the killer be tied to the crime with DNA or fingerprint evidence. Judiciary Committee Chairman Kraig Paulsen, a Republican from Hiawatha, said he has enough votes to pass House File 2286 out of committee. The bill's sponsor, Republican Rep. Jim Van Fossen, a retired police captain from Davenport, said his constituents are calling for the measure. "Most moms and dads, grandpas and grandmas in the state of Iowa . . . feel that if their child or a child . . . is kidnapped, raped and murdered, the prosecutors should have the ability to seek the death penalty if it meets all of the criteria," Van Fossen said. He noted the bill requires DNA or fingerprint evidence identifying a defendant to make sure no innocent person is mistakenly executed. Iowa abolished the death penalty in 1965. The bill's future is unknown. Senate Democratic Leader Mike Gronstal of Council Bluffs has said he won't allow debate on the death penalty. Gov. Tom Vilsack, a Democrat, is also opposed to a death penalty. Both say Iowa's toughest sentence - life in prison without possibility for parole - is effectively a death sentence. Democratic leaders have said there are not enough votes to pass the measure in the Senate and that they oppose it on moral grounds. House Speaker Christopher Rants, a Republican from Sioux City, had said he wouldn't bring the issue up in the House if it wouldn't be debated in the Senate. "He's acting to get an issue before the Legislature that a lot of his constituents care about," Rants said of Van Fossen. "I don't know where the bill goes in the final analysis." Sen. Larry McKibben, a Republican from Marshalltown, praised the House work and said it helps build momentum to having the issue debated in the Senate. He has pushed hard for a debate to be held in the Senate. Democrats were skeptical Wednesday of the motivation for the House bill. House Minority Leader Pat Murphy, a Democrat from Dubuque, noted the legislation this session has been done quickly and without much input. "It was a serious debate 11 years ago. This looks extremely political," he said. (source: Des Moines Register) ALABAMA: Pugh murderer fighting death sentence Marilyn McWilliams says she remembers the moments following Michael Craig Maxwell's conviction in 1998. "He even described what he did and told what happened and said he was sorry and even said he was ready to accept whatever he had coming to him", said McWilliams on Wednesday afternoon. Maxwell, one of 5 defendants eventually convicted for the murders of Harold Pugh and his 11 year-old son Joey, confessed to firing the fatal shots. The Pughs had just finished a fishing trip on Cane Creek in Colbert County when they were attacked. Maxwell and his accomplices used Harold Pughs pick-up truck as a getaway vehicle the next day when the robbed a bank in Belmont, Mississippi. Maxwell was eventually sentenced to Alabama's death row for his part in the crimes. McWilliams says she remembers Maxwell vowing not to appeal because he was ready for his sentence. "He said he deserved it and was ready for it". But now, 9 years after the murders of Harold and Joey Pugh, Maxwell and a group called Federal Defenders, are trying to avoid capital punishment by asking the Court of Criminal Appeals for a new sentencing hearing. The group says they'd like to introduce evidence that Maxwell was sexually abused by his uncle when he was a child. A decision on the matter could take several more weeks or even months. (source: WAFF News)
