The Herald-Dispatch
The West Virginia Legislature is again considering proposals to restore the death penalty. This time it is aimed at people who kill police officers or other first responders in the line of duty.
As of Monday morning, Senate Bill 264 and House Bill 2567 were in committee waiting for review. They should stay there.
SB 264 was introduced by Sen. Mike Stuart, R-Kanawha. It has five cosponsors. HB 2564 was introduced by Delegate Eric Brooks, R-Raleigh. It has three cosponsors. Both allow for the death penalty for people found guilty of killing a police officer or other first responder who were performing their duties.
As has been said in this space before, the problem with capital punishment lies not in the act itself but in the process. The death penalty usually involves several rounds of appeals. Some states with the death penalty struggle to find humane ways of carrying it out. There are questions of whether certain groups of people are more likely to be sentenced to death for the same crime than other groups. And there is always the risk of executing an innocent person.
