Montana/USA A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House and Senate plan to introduce a bill to abolish the death penalty

Source: greatfallstribune.com

HELENA – A bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House and Senate plan to introduce a bill to abolish the death penalty in Montana.
The proposed measure would replace the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The bill, which has not yet been introduced, is co-sponsored by Rep. Doug Kary, R-Billings; Rep. Margie MacDonald, D-Billings; Sen. Matthew Rosendale, R-Glendive; and Sen. Dave Wanzenried, D-Missoula.
Similar efforts to abolish the death penalty have failed in past legislative sessions. The bill cleared the Senate in 2009 and 2011 before dying in the House Judiciary Committee.
A new bipartisan coalition of conservative lawmakers, human rights groups and religious organizations hopes this renewed effort will have the momentum it needs to guide the bill through the legislative process and on to the governor’s desk.
At a Friday lunch meeting of a group called Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, Rosendale urged fellow conservatives to “come out of the shadows” and support the pending legislation.
“There are a lot of people who support the abolition of the death penalty who won’t come out of their closets and stand there and let other folks know (they oppose the death penalty) because they’re nervous,” Rosendale said. “They’re not sure how many people would stand with them and oppose it.”
Rosendale said he was elected to the Senate as a vocal opponent of the death penalty in district with “extremely conservative” and “extremely liberal” voters.
“People know where I stand on the death penalty and I still got elected by a wide margin,” Rosendale said. “If you don’t support life in the fetus, you will lose your conservative votes. But if you stand up and say, ‘I’m against the death penalty,’ you will not lose conservative votes.”
Co-sponsor Rep. Doug Kary said he was one of those people who was “in the closet” about his opposition to the death penalty until he went to an anti-abortion demonstration with his wife four years ago. Kary said his wife asked him how he could stand with her on the abortion issue while supporting the death penalty.
“There was a long period of quiet that morning,” Kary said. “I couldn’t give her a good answer.”
Rosendale urged fellow lawmakers to sign on to a letter to the House Judiciary Committee asking committee members to bring the bill to the House floor for a full debate.
“Everyone has their own reasons why they support ending the death penalty. For some folks, it’s for fiscal reasons, and other folks oppose it for moral issues,” Rosendale said. “I myself can stand here and tell you that if we don’t build a strong foundation for our argument about protecting all life, then all we do is open the door up for the elimination for some other type of life.”
Steve Dogiakos, an organizer for Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty, said there are many reasons for conservatives to oppose capital punishment.
“It’s not a liberal issue, it’s not a conservative issue, it’s not a Democrat or Republican issue. It spans all demographics,” Dogiakos said.