On December 20, the Bermudan Senate voted by a narrow...

On December 20, the Bermudan Senate voted by a narrow margin to abolish the death penalty. The bill was adopted by 6-5. Senators from the ruling Progressive Labour Party voted the bill through despite criticism from the opposition United Bermuda Party that it was riddled with errors. UBP Senator Mark Pettingill, a lawyer, who supports abolition of capital and corporal punishment, urged the Senate to redraft the bill, delaying its implementation by one year. "It is a bitter disappointment for the parliamentary process," Sen. Pettingill said. "The Government was shown glaring errors, and it strikes at our system that even in the face of that, Government was still prepared to push and pass legislation that is fatally flawed on the basis of satisfying their own agenda." Senate Government leader Milton Scott said the concerns would go to Bermuda's Attorney General and the Law Reform Committee to implement necessary amendments. Two of the three independent senators voted to reject the bill because of concerns about the errors, but Independent Senate Chairman Alf Oughton used his casting vote to side with the Government and pass the act. PLP Senator Michael Scott said the system had worked well because Senator Pettingill had pointed out errors which the Government had acknowledged and would correct. Abolition of the death penalty and flogging will become law when the bill is signed by Governor Thorold Masefield. The last execution was carried out in 1977, when 2 men, Buck Burrows and Larry Tacklyn, were hanged for murdering the territorial governor.