USA - Texas. Veto threat alters death-penalty bill.

Veto threat alters death-penalty bill. Facing a veto threat from Gov. Rick Perry, members of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee voted this evening to drop a controversial provision from a bill designed to keep defendants from being executed who were involved in a capital crime, did no killing themselves. As amended, House Bill 2267 now will require only separate trials for co-defendants in capital murder cases, where 1 defendant committed the murder and the other did not. Advocacy groups immediately decried the last-minute change, but said they still supported separate trials. As approved by the House last week, the bill would have been significant change in the state’s death-penalty law, one that was vehemently opposed by prosecutors and cheered by death-penalty opponents. Under current law, known as "the law of parties," multiple defendants in a capital murder case can face execution, even if they did not pull the trigger. Texas has been criticized nationally in past years for cases in which the triggerman cut a deal with police and escaped execution, after testifying against a co-defendant who did not pull the trigger but was executed. "We wanted that provision to stay in, but the Governor’s Office made it clear they would veto the bill if that went through," said state Sen. Juan Hinojosa, D-McAllen. "At least we're changing it so co-defendants will have to be tried separately. You won't taint an accomplice by having them sit beside the triggerman in court at the same trial." While Hinojosa said he was not satisfied with the change, "we're not going to get any progress on this area of law until we get another governor. I realize that, so we do what we can." After the disputed wording was deleted, the bill was passed unanimously by the committee, the last stop before the measure will come for a vote by the full Senate.