USA - Nebraska. Attorney General Peterson plans to challenge the law that repealed death penalty

The office of Attorney General Doug Peterson said Thursday that it plans to challenge part of the law that effectively changed the sentences of Nebraska's 10 current death row prisoners to life in prison. Attorneys plan to argue that the law violates the state constitution, which gives the Board of Pardons exclusive power to change final sentences. The attorney general's office cited a portion of the law that says: "It is the intent of the Legislature that in any criminal proceeding in which the death penalty has been imposed but not carried out prior to the effective date of this act, such penalty shall be changed to life imprisonment." "We believe this stated intent is unconstitutional," the office said in the statement. Sen. Ernie Chambers, the new law's sponsor, said his measure makes clear that the Legislature isn't changing the sentences. Chambers said the law merely removes the death penalty as a punishment, meaning the state has no legal way to carry out executions. So-called intent language doesn't carry the force of law, he said. Chambers said it's up to the Department of Correctional Services to decide whether the men remain on death row.