Top Democrats in the State Assembly
said on Monday that they expect a bill to reinstitute the death penalty
in New York State to fail when it gets to a legislative committee for a
vote next week. Such a vote could not only ensure that capital
punishment remains in limbo in New York for the rest of 2005, but also
signal resistance among the sizable Democratic majority in the Assembly
that could doom longer-term efforts to restore the death penalty in the
state. The death penalty bill would
amend New York's law to correct a central provision, about jury
instructions in capital cases, that a divided Court of Appeals ruled
unconstitutional last June. The death penalty has been in limbo since
then. On March 9, the Republican-led Senate voted 37 to 22 in favor of
fixing the law to reinstitute the death penalty, and Gov. George E.
Pataki, a Republican, favors the legislation, leaving the future of the
law this year in the hands of Assembly members. Assembly Democrats met
twice on Monday to discuss briefly the new report on the death penalty
hearings. Several lawmakers said yesterday evening that instead of the
death penalty, they preferred the option of life without parole, which
was not available a decade ago when the Democratic-led Assembly backed
death penalty legislation. [more]
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