Iowa Death Penalty Scrapped 030317
State lawmakers have scrapped plans to resurrect the death penalty in Iowa this year.
Siouxland Public Media’s Mary Hartnett has this report.
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Senate File 335 would have reinstated the death penalty for multiple offenses in which a minor was kidnapped, raped and murdered. The Des Moines Register reports that A Senate subcommittee hearing on the bill was canceled Thursday as lawmakers rushed to meet the Legislature's "funnel" deadline. Most bills had to clear at least one committee in the House or Senate this week to remain eligible for consideration.
Several groups opposed the measure, including The Iowa Attorney General's Office, the Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers, the NAACP in Iowa and Nebraska and the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa.
Iowa abolished the death penalty in 1965. Thirty-one states still have the death penalty.
For Siouxland Public Media, I’m Mary Hartnett.
