USA - Wyoming. HB 145 to repeal the death penalty failed in the Senate.

HB 145 to repeal the death penalty failed in the Senate on Thursday after drawing far more support from state lawmakers than ever before. The 18-12 vote in the state Senate ended a fairly long run for a bill that failed early each of the past 5 legislative sessions. This year, concern about the death penalty’s costs amid tight state budgets won over new repeal supporters. The bill passed the House 36-21. Wyoming faces a tight fiscal outlook because of a drop in revenue from the state’s coal, oil and natural gas industries. Repeal advocates pointed to the high cost of death-penalty cases for the state Public Defender’s Office, which according to the bill’s fiscal note would save about $750,000 a year by not having to take additional required measures to defend people facing the death penalty. Wyoming currently has no convicts facing the death penalty since a federal judge in 2014 threw out a death sentence for murderer Dale Wayne Eaton, who spent 10 years on death row. Wyoming’s only execution since the U.S. reinstated capital punishment was in 1992.