Missouri House backs death penalty for police killers...

Missouri House backs death penalty for police killers - The Missouri House passed a bill making the death penalty mandatory for criminals who kill law enforcement officers -- unless they can prove that their lives should be spared. - Supporters hope that caveat would allow Missouri to circumvent a 1976 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that mandatory death penalty laws are unconstitutional. - The Missouri legislation falls just short of being a mandate, requiring the death penalty for such crimes unless a court finds other factors "which are sufficient to justify" a life sentence without parole. - Mitigating factors include having no prior criminal record and the defendant's age. - The legislation would cover the slaying of a police officer, judge, prosecutor, jailer, prison worker or parole officer, as long as the killing was connected to that person's job. The House passed the measure, voting 109-35, and sent it to the Senate for consideration. - Legal experts have raised questions about whether such a law would hold up, saying the Missouri bill might go against the judicial principle that the government, not the defendant, must prove its case for a conviction or sentence. - Killing a law enforcement officer already is one of 17 aggravating factors a Missouri jury can consider in deciding whether to impose the death penalty on someone convicted of 1st-degree murder.