The Virginia Senate voted 24 to 14 to eliminate the "triggerman" rule

The Virginia Senate voted 24 to 14 to eliminate the "triggerman" rule, which says that only a person who pulls the trigger in a capital murder case is eligible for the death penalty. The bill, HB933, introduced by Sen. Mark D. Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg), would allow the death penalty to apply to accomplices. A similar bill was passed last year by the Senate and House of Delegates, but it was vetoed by Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), who has indicated that he would do so again. Kaine opposes capital punishment on moral grounds but enforces the death penalty in capital cases. The bill grew out of the 2002 Washington area sniper case, in which 2 men fatally shot 10 people. Because it was initially unclear who pulled the trigger, prosecutors said they were hampered in efforts to have the mastermind, John Allen Muhammad, executed. Also today, the Senate rejected a bill, 28 to 10, that would have required the state to delay setting the execution date for a condemned inmate until after the 1st appeal before the U.S. Supreme Court. The bill would have prohibited setting an execution date until after the U.S. Supreme Court considers the condemned inmate's 1st appeal. Under current law, the date can be set before the case reaches the nation’s highest court. Democratic Senator John Edwards of Roanoke sponsored the bill. He said that as a matter of fairness, every death row inmate should have one Supreme Court review before an execution date is set. Senator Richard Stuart of Westmoreland County argued that the bill would unnecessarily delay executions and frustrate and demoralize the families of capital murder victims. The Senate voted 28-10 to kill the measure.