Bill is introduced to establish death penalty

Bill is introduced to establish death penalty. Legislation to authorize the death penalty by lethal injection in some cases was introduced in the state Senate and House. The bills provide for capital punishment for the most heinous murder cases, said Sen. Dan Stevens, R-Mora, chief sponsor of the Senate measure. Among the circumstances under which the bills would allow the penalty are if the defendant was previously convicted of another murder, if the murder was for pay, if the victim was a police officer or a witness in a criminal or civil proceeding, if the victim was younger than 12 or if the murder occurred in connection with drug or sex crimes. Death-penalty bills have been introduced in previous sessions, but none has made it to the House or Senate floor. The House bill is sponsored by Rep. Tom Hackbarth, R-Cedar. Coincidentally, the magazine Minnesota Law & Politics released results of a poll of 600 Minnesota adults, conducted this month, finding that 46.8 % of respondents favored a death penalty in the state and that 44.8 % oppose it. The rest had no opinion.