We, the comrades of Unit 1012, endorse
and ally ourselves with this Pro Death Penalty/Victims’ Rights Group, One Minute On Murder. They are the Nebraskans who defend the death penalty. We will
post an article from Senator Bill Kintner.
Legislators muddy moral waters in debate to repeal death penalty
April 21, 2015 6:45 pm • State
Sen. Bill Kintner
Death. It
is a sobering topic, no matter how it confronts us. Whether in old age or in
youth, occurring by accident or due to a crime, death forces us to deal with
our mortality and the bigger questions in life.
This was
definitely true this last week as LB 268, a bill introduced by Ernie Chambers
to repeal the death penalty in Nebraska, was discussed for about four hours
during our first round of debate.
Unfortunately,
a confused moral ethic, vote trading and much misleading information regarding
the death penalty in Nebraska convinced many new senators, some who campaigned
last fall in favor of keeping the death penalty, to join the target of their
derision several weeks ago, Sen. Chambers. The legislative bill to repeal the
death penalty was advanced to the second round of debate in the Unicameral.
Like the
“Pied Piper,” Senator Chambers and his helpers succeeded in convincing a
majority of senators to follow him and advance his repeal bill.
Many
reasons were given by advocates for why Nebraska should repeal the death
penalty. One of the major reasons offered was cost. Yet, none of the state data
provided by the Attorney General or state and local agencies revealed any cost
savings for the repeal bill.
Citing
national studies and studies from other states, senators who support repealing
the death penalty tried to convince each other that litigating a death penalty case
is just far too expensive compared to life in prison without the possibility of
parole. However, evidence that this is the case in Nebraska is not there.
The
proponents are absolutely false in the data and facts as they apply to
Nebraska.
I trust our
Attorney General, Governor Ricketts, and the views of our county attorneys and
corrections professionals when it comes to the facts in our state and the need
for the death penalty.
Besides,
for the anti-death penalty crowd to complain that it is too expensive to
litigate death penalty cases and that the death penalty is broken while
throwing every legal “wrench” into the proverbial “gears” of our system for
over thirty years is completely disingenuous.
To complain
of more appeals and more costs while being the main cause of those appeals and
costs presents a circular and despicable argument.
Another
argument heard from the new senators, was “I’m consistently pro-life from
conception to natural death, so I am for the state to getting out of the
killing business.”
Well,
that’s an interesting twist, and new definition of what it means to be
pro-life. I always thought to be pro-life was to protect innocent life, not
sadistic murderous depraved people from receiving their due penalty for
violating God’s law of “Thou shall not murder”.
People are
made in the image of God, and to murder an innocent human being is like
murdering God in effigy. To equate all killing as wrong is to confuse the clear
teaching of scripture from front to back, that human life is so precious in
God’s sight that if you murder an innocent human being, it is just and right
for government to potentially take your life.
That is a
true pro-life ethic that protects the innocent and those who cannot protect
themselves. It lifts up the value of human life by making it potentially very
costly to violate our societal contract not to murder.
I truly
believe if we want the Lord’s blessing on our nation, we must take the issue of
the death penalty seriously. Scripture indicates that murder defiles a land and
brings God’s judgment, unless the murderer is executed.
Those
following their “Pied Piper” also brought up the argument that the death
penalty is not a deterrent, because people are still murdering people.
The truth
is; no one but God can know who it has deterred, because those that it has
deterred we will never know about, precisely because they never followed
through with first degree murder. To use that logic, we should repeal all laws
because people keep breaking the law and there is not enough deterrence.
Sadly, we
live in a fallen world where there will always be someone who chooses to take
the life of another innocent person.
This leads
us to what I believe is the most important aspect of our justice system:
Striving to be just in all cases. Nebraska, overall, has a good record
regarding capital and non-capital homicide cases according to a 2001-2002 study
commissioned by the Nebraska Legislature. It looked at these cases from 1973 to
1999. The study found no statistically significant disparities in the
application of the death penalty in our state.
True
justice is getting what you deserve proportionate to the crime you committed:
not too lenient, not too harsh. There are some crimes where the only just
penalty is death. We should not relish or enjoy it, it should be rare – only
when the evidence is beyond a reasonable doubt – and only after the defendant
has received his full due process.
Make no
mistake, having a death penalty is warranted for those who commit the most
heinous of crimes. It is a terrible duty that must be done to protect innocent
life and the potential that certain murderers don’t murder again.
Nebraska
has no cost savings by enacting LB 268. Nebraska has no claims that the 11 men
now on death row are actually innocent of their crimes. Nebraska has no
mistaken executions that should be halted by this bill. The bill is the same
one that Senator Chambers has been trying to get enacted for 38 years.
Finally,
the people of LD 2 and across Nebraska, overwhelmingly support the death
penalty and to go against the people there would have to be a compelling reason
and there is not.
I am not in
favor of eliminating the death penalty in our state.
As always,
I really appreciate hearing from you on important matters. Please do not
hesitate to contact me or my staff for information on legislative bills or if I
may of assistance. Please reach me at: Sen. Bill Kintner, 1000 State Capitol,
Lincoln, NE 68509 (402-471-2613), or at my email: bkintner@leg.ne.gov.
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