05/23/2019
VOTE:NO
Signed into Law
Gov refused special session
Status (overview) of bill:https://olis.leg.state.or.us/liz/2019R1/Measures/Overview/SB1013
Governor Brown refused to hold a special session to correct the “mistake” made in this bill she signed.
2019R1 SB 1013A Text
This bill reclassifies current manners of committing aggravated murder as murder in the first degree, thus removing death penalty as an option in sentencing. Removes ‘future dangerousness’ as factor for jury to determine when deciding on sentence of death.
Personal Choice and Responsibility
Oregon voters have consistently supported the death penalty for aggravated murder. This bill chips away at the murders which can be classified as aggravated and thus eligible for the death penalty, thus overriding the will of Oregon citizens. One of the purposes of the death penalty is to ensure that perpetrator never kills again. To remove ‘future dangerousness’ as a factor in weighing the death penalty, completely removes one of the most important reasons the death penalty exists.
Limited Government
This is Oregon legislators again trying to override the will of the citizens. Murder of two or more people would now be classified as aggravated only if it is shown that the murder was committed in an attempt to intimidate a civilian population or influence government policy (terrorism). Also being removed are murders committed in an effort to conceal the commission of a crime, or to conceal the identity of the perpetrator of a crime, and murders by officials such as police and probation officers. These would now be reclassified as murder I or II.
This bill reads like a micro-managers dream. It takes the extreme in classifying intent and outcome to be determining factors of Guilt for the death penalty. Personally, it sounds like a list of excuses to NOT use the death penalty. We as a people determined a long time ago that the ACTION of committing a heinous crime was enough to subject the accused to the death penalty. What seems to lost on our current group of representatives is that there is no clamor for this change. Instead, they want to subject us to their interpretations. I say no thank you, spend your time fixing the overwhelming problems like homelessness and lack of accountability in our state house when it comes to spending OUR money on worthless pet projects.