USA - Virginia. Bill to expand death penalty dies in Senate committee.

Bill to expand death penalty dies in Senate committee. A Republican-backed bill to expand the death penalty in Virginia died in the Senate in the Courts of Justice Committee when a GOP senator abstained, citing a potential conflict of interests. The bill died on a 7-7 party-line vote, with Sen. Bill Stanley not voting because he accepts court appointments to represent defendants in capital murder cases. Sen. Mark Obenshain’s bill would have redefined the so-called triggerman rule, which in most cases restricts the death penalty to the person who does the actual killing. The legislation would have allowed the death penalty for accomplices who share the intent to kill. The heavily Republican House of Delegates is likely to pass its own version of the “triggerman” bill, but it still would have to go through the Senate committee to have a chance of passing. Similar bills cleared both the House and the Senate in 2008 and 2009, but were vetoed by then-Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat. The Senate courts committee rejected the bills in 2010 and 2011, when Democrats held the majority.