Lawmakers pull switch on four death penalty bills

Siobhan McDonough

Tuesday, June 5, 2001 | 10:25 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Several death penalty measures suffered harsh fates this session -- they were killed. But Nevada lawmakers managed to keep alive a proposal to study the topic.

"We had some winners and some losers this session," said Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie, D-Reno, referring to deaths of Assembly Bills 327, 353 and 354 and Senate Bill 254.

"A positive outcome is we elevated the debate on death penalty reform," she said. "People don't see it as a radical issue anymore."

Leslie's AB353 would have prohibited a death sentence for anyone who is mentally retarded -- that is, people with an IQ of 70 or less.

AB353 made it through the Assembly but died in Senate Judiciary, chaired by Sen. Mark James, R-Las Vegas, an ardent supporter of a study on the death penalty.

While Leslie supports the study, she's confident her measure barring the execution of anyone with an IQ of 70 or less will get another chance -- in 2003.

"I've already put in my bill request for next session," she said.

With so many death penalty bills and time spent on debating the issue, lawmakers were hard pressed not to ignore the topic. The result: a legislative study that was approved in the waning minutes of the 2001 session.

ACR21 calls for an eight-member legislative interim committee to study the death penalty in Nevada -- that includes DNA testing, execution of the mentally retarded, racial discrimination and other related issues.

"A study is the right thing to do," said Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, who chairs the Assembly Elections, Procedures & Ethics Committee.

Giunchigliani's AB327 would have changed a state law that now permits courts to impose a death sentence on defendants as young as 16. Under the bill, the minimum age would have been 18. It also would have provided for a defendant to have the last word after the prosecution rebuts the defendant's first statements.

"We need time to mull over the death penalty and allow us to get a comfort level," she said. "We need to find out if there's a different thought or feeling in the public on it."

Sen. Joe Neal, D-North Las Vegas, introduced SB254, which started out as a death penalty ban. As amended, it would have temporarily halted executions while the state conducted its first major study of capital punishment since the death penalty was reinstated more than 20 years ago.

With weighty opposition to the moratorium, the measure died.

"The system is broken -- it doesn't work," said James. "We have to be concerned when the death penalty is reserved for the poor, racial minorities."

A fourth bill, AB354, would have provided for genetic marker analysis of evidence in capital cases. It was proposed by Assemblyman Bob Price, D-North Las Vegas.

Assemblyman Greg Brower, R-Reno, supports the death penalty and agreed to the study.

"I'm hopeful the study will confirm that the death penalty has been applied in Nevada in a way that's fair and in a way that is not discriminatory against people."

As far as why some of the measures didn't make it into law this session, Brower said, "Each of the death penalty bills ended up at the wrong place at the wrong time."