This story has not gotten enough play. In the very conservative very red state of Nebraska the unicameral legislature has voted 32-17 to end the death penalty in that state.
The measure, which passed Wednesday on a 32-15 vote, faces a promised veto from Gov. Pete Ricketts.
“No one has traveled the state more than I have in the past 18 months, and everywhere I go there is overwhelming support for keeping the death penalty in Nebraska,” Ricketts, a Republican, said ahead of the vote.
“I am reminding senators that (this is) a vote to repeal the death penalty and to give our state’s most heinous criminals more lenient sentences. This isn’t rhetoric. This is reality.”
State Sen. Ernie Chambers, the bill’s sponsor and a member of the New Alliance Party, said he’s confident supporters can muster the 30 votes necessary to override a veto.
Nebraska has actually executed very few people, the last was in 1997. Like nearly all states and the federal government Nebraska does not have the drug cocktail necessary for lethal injections. Pete Ricketts, the governor, just sent $51,000 to a pharmacy in India for a supply of the drugs but it is widely anticipated that the FDA will not approve their use. Perhaps they should take that money out of the governor’s salary.
Here in the State of Oregon the last two Governors have placed a moratorium on executions and the District Attorneys in the state no longer ask for the death penalty in part at least because the cash strapped court system can’t afford death penalty cases. A tip of the hat to the Nebraska legislature for ending the death penalty rather than attempt ghoulish experimentation attempted by Oklahoma and Ohio. Perhaps this is a sign that the United States is ready to join the other developed countries and end the practice.