Bill would abolish the death penalty

The Judiciary Committee heard testimony March 4 on a bill that would repeal Nebraska’s death penalty.

LB276, introduced by Omaha Sen. Brenda Council, would replace death penalty provisions with the sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

The bill also would allow the court to require payment to be made to a victim’s estate for any pain and suffering to the victim caused by the offense.

“Now is the time to end state-sanctioned homicide in Nebraska,” Council said.

A significant number of other states have declared the death penalty unconstitutional, she said.

“We should not wait until we are the odd state out before repealing the death penalty,” Council said. “Instead, we should be in the forefront of this humanitarian movement.”

Amy Miller, of ACLU Nebraska, testified in support of the bill, saying the death penalty is more expensive than sentencing offenders to life in prison.

She said studies conducted in neighboring states show the average cost of imposing the death penalty is $1.9 million more per inmate than life imprisonment. Nebraska currently has 12 men on death row, she said.

“This is a failed economic experiment and the death penalty should be abolished,” Miller said.

Lela Shanks, member of the Nebraska Coalition for Peace, testified in support of the bill.

“Most of the industrialized countries have moved on from the death penalty,” she said. “It has been compassion and nonviolence that have moved the human race forward.”

Robert Boyce, whose wife was on a jury that sentenced a man to death 20 years ago, also testified in support of the bill.

“This decision doesn’t just affect the person who is executed or the person in the family, it affects others as well,” Boyce said. “That decision and the fact that he was executed haunted [my wife].”

Lancaster County Attorney Joe Kelly testified in opposition.

Kelly said abolishing the death penalty and replacing it with life without parole could simply shift costs rather than save the state money. The state will continue to face appeals of the most severe punishments, he said, whether that is the death penalty or life without parole.

The committee took no immediate action on the bill.