The state Senate Crime Prevention and Public Safety...

The state Senate Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee, defeated a plan to reinstate the death penalty. (see January 27). The 8-2 vote suggests there is virtually no chance the measure will prevail this year. The same bill is stalled in the House. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Mady Reiter and embraced by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, would clear the way for voters to decide this November whether to amend the Minnesota Constitution to allow capital punishment for some murderers. State leaders abolished the death penalty nearly a century ago.