On February 25, a bill to abolish the death penalty,...

On February 25, a bill to abolish the death penalty, sponsored by Springfield Democratic State Representative Mike Schilling, was defeated in the House Criminal Law Committee. Bills to eliminate the death penalty for those with mental retardation, to establish a moratorium on executions pending a study, to restrict a judge from sentencing an inmate to death when the jury is deadlocked (December 1998), and to extend the aggravating circumstances to include murder of a child under 14 years of age, murder of a child under 17, murder of a person with developmental disability or a dependent adult, were all defeated.