Page 20 - AHATA

A4 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 30 OctOber 2019
Conservatives in some states push against death penalty

By MEAD GRUVER ence with the anti-death- traction industries.
Associated Press penalty group to try again Conservatives in Ohio and
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) — with a bill in 2020. Utah, which also have large
Conservatives in states in- U.S. officials announced in GOP statehouse majorities,
cluding Wyoming, Utah July that federal executions voiced optimism Monday
and Ohio vowed Monday would resume after a 16- that death penalty repeal
to keep pushing for the re- year informal moratorium. can catch on as a conser-
peal of state-level death "It puts us in categories of vative cause.
penalty sentences, even as nations like North Korea, Recently elected legislators
U.S. officials move toward where we simply don't in Utah seem more support-
resuming federal execu- stand with our values," Ol- ive of repeal in the state
tions. sen said about the federal that reinstated the firing
The national group Conser- move. squad as an execution op-
vatives Concerned About The debate in Wyoming last tion in 2015, said Darcy Van
the Death Penalty released winter marked an abrupt Orden with the Utah Justice
a statement with over 250 shift on capital punishment Coalition, which seeks crim-
signatures saying the death in the Legislature where inal justice reforms includ-
penalty is costly, prone to Republicans outnumbered ing an end to the death
error and inconsistent with This Nov. 4, 2015, file photo, provided by the Ohio House of Rep- Democrats 77-13. penalty.
conservatives' opposition resentatives, shows Ohio state Rep. Niraj Antani, a Republican Repeal advocates argued In Ohio, Republican Rep.
to abortion. who represents Ohio's 42nd District. that having the law on the Niraj Antani of Miamisburg
"We have come to the Associated Press books costs the state al- said conservatives are be-
conclusion that the death most $1 million a year, even ing pushed to think about
penalty does not work and tence, according to the 18-12 in the state Senate. though Wyoming hasn't repeal.
can't be made to work, not Death Penalty Information Repeal opponents argued had anybody on death "Even the chance of some-
in spite of our conservative Center. In Wyoming, the in part that capital punish- row since 2014 and last ex- one being put to death
principles, but because of state Legislature last winter ment encourages criminals ecuted someone in 1992. who could be innocent,
them," the statement read. came the closest it had in to cooperate with investi- The fiscal argument reso- I believe, for pro-life peo-
Twenty-nine U.S. states recent memory to abolish- gators. nated as Wyoming strug- ple across the country,
have the death penalty ing capital punishment. Republican state Rep. gles with lower revenue is enough to oppose the
and four of those have The measure passed the Jared Olsen of Cheyenne due to hard times in the death penalty," Antani
moratoriums on the sen- Wyoming House but failed promised in a news confer- coal and natural gas ex- said.q