A legislator from northern Virginia is proposing a...

A legislator from northern Virginia is proposing a law he says would make opponents of the death penalty accountable for their opinions. Sen. Warren E. Barry, R-Fairfax, has prefiled a bill for the 2002 General Assembly that would allow Virginians to register their opposition to the death penalty with a central registry. Should those registered be murdered, their killers would be ineligible for execution. However, the death penalty opponent must make arrangements for his or her entire estate to be turned over to the Virginia Board of Corrections to defray the cost of the killer's imprisonment. Henry Heller, of Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, noted that "we should probably remind the senator that it costs more for the state to kill that killer than it would be to keep him in prison for life." If passed by the General Assembly and signed by the governor, the proposal would become law Jan. 1, 2003.