Full Study of Death Penalty

HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE APPROVES FULL STUDY OF DEATH PENALTY

Study Bill Moves As the Governor Allows Moratorium to Expire

Nashville: The House Judiciary Committee today unanimously approved
legislation, introduced by Representative Rob Briley (D- Nashville) and
Senator Doug Jackson (D-Dickson) and co-sponsored by members of both
parties, to create a commission to conduct a thorough study of the
state's death penalty system. The commission would include
representatives appointed by the Governor, the Senate, and the House, as
well as lawyers for both the defense and prosecution, mental health
advocates, and victims advocates. The commission would make
recommendations to the legislature as to how the identified problems
should be addressed


"The members of the committee affirmed today that Tennessee's capital
punishment system is a mess," said Reverend Stacy Rector, Executive
Director of the Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing. "The death
penalty in Tennessee is dangerously broken and our state representatives
need to take steps to address all its problems."

According to an assessment released last week by the American Bar
Association, which has no position on the death penalty, the Tennessee
capital punishment system suffers from serious flaws. Tennessee does not
have protocols mandating the preservation of DNA evidence throughout a
death row inmate's incarceration. Moreover, inmates are not provided
with proper avenues to address claims of factual innocence, leading to
the serious and deadly risk that Tennessee could execute an innocent
person. Moreover, the assessment found, Tennessee's death penalty system
continues to be applied unfairly along racial, economic, and geographic
lines, and people with severe mental illness continue to face death
sentences.

"At the very least, Tennesseans deserve to know that the capital
punishment system is functioning properly," said Rector. "The only way
to begin to address it flaws and ensure that an innocent person is not
executed is to conduct a full study examining every aspect of the system
to ensure its reliability."

The legislation passed on the same day as Governor Phil Bredesen allowed
his 90-day moratorium on executions, put in place to study Tennessee's
execution protocols, to expire. The Governor ignored the findings of the
ABA which called for a continuation of the current moratorium and a
complete study of the death penalty, as well as a letter from nearly 200
faith leaders from across Tennessee calling on him to act to ensure that
fairness and equity prevail in Tennessee's death penalty system. A poll
conducted by the Global Strategies group found that 66% of Tennesseans
would have approved of an extension of the moratorium.

"It is disappointing that the Governor is allowing executions to resume
even after he's heard from legal experts, faith leaders, and the people
of Tennessee that we should act to fix a broken system," said Rector.
"But it is encouraging that the General Assembly is taking steps to
address the serious flaws in Tennessee's capital punishment system."