USA - Arkansas. Governor Reverses Position on Death Penalty

Arkansas Governor Reverses Position on Death Penalty. Governor Mike Beebe, 66, white, Democratic, recently said he would sign legislation outlawing the death penalty if legislators were to send him such a bill. In 2006 Beebe (serving now his second term) ran for governor as a supporter of capital punishment, but said the experience of signing a death warrant for the first time caused his thinking on the issue to change. “It is an agonizing process, whether you're for the death penalty or against the death penalty," the governor said. "Everybody can claim they're for it until you're actually the person who's got to sign it." Since taking office in 2007, Beebe has approved four executions, but none of those have been carried out because of various court challenges. Arkansas has not had an execution since 2005, and has only sentenced one new person to death in the last two years. On June 22, 2012 (see), the Arkansas Supreme Court struck down the state’s execution law after finding problems with how the lethal injection drugs used in executions were selected.