[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----CALIF., S. DAK.

[Rick Halperin]

Jan. 16


CALIFORNIA:

Harman's bill on death row appeals' expedition flatlined


A bill that State Sen. Tom Harman hoped would expedite the state's death
row appeals process was nixed in committee Tuesday, when a 2-2 committee
vote along party lines rejected the bill.

Harman, who called the state's system a "de facto moratorium" on the death
penalty, said he felt the Democrats who voted against the bill did so to
maintain the system's often decades-long appeals process. Harman cited a
shortage of qualified attorneys and other problems he said contributed to
the long wait.

While attempts to contact the 2 senators who voted against the measure
Sens. Gilbert Cedillo (D  Los Angeles) and Don Perata (D  Berkeley)  were
unsuccessful, Cedillos spokeswoman Xochitl Arellano said the senator
thought the bill was "bad policy."

Harman will continue to work on death penalty reform, he said, including
working on a proposal by California Supreme Court Chief Justice Ronald M.
George that would allow appellate courts to hear death row appeals. Only
the state Supreme Court can hear such arguments.

(source: Daily Pilot)






SOUTH DAKOTA:

Senate committee approves update in death penalty laws


A state Senate committee has approved a measure that would clarify South
Dakota's laws dealing with the death penalty.

Laurie Feiler, deputy secretary of the state Corrections Department, said
the bill establishes new procedures that circuit judges would use to
determine whether an execution should be stopped because a death-row
inmate is mentally incompetent.

SB53 also clarifies that people who take part in an execution are
generally immune from civil lawsuits or criminal prosecution.

South Dakota held its 1st execution in six decades last year when Elijah
Page was killed by lethal injection for the murder of a 19-year-old man
near Spearfish in 2000.

(source: Associated Press)

************************

Legis: Death penalty on tap


The Senate State Affairs Committee was scheduled to hear a bill making
changes in the state laws governing capital punishment.

Michael Winder, spokesman for the Corrections Department, said the bills
generally were clean-up measures because many of the laws dealing with
executions were written in 1979.

The states execution last summer of Elijah Page, the 1st since 1947 in
South Dakota showed that some revisions were needed, Winder said.

(source: Sioux Falls Argus Leader)