Rep. Bill Deeken proposes moratorium on death penalty

Executions have decreased during the last seven years.

By Erin Kaplan

Published March 3, 2009

Rep. Bill Deeken, R-Jefferson City, spoke frankly about why he had proposed a moratorium on the death penalty in the state.

"If I was on a jury and I voted to put someone to death, and five years after he was executed they found out he was innocent, I'd have a hard time living with that," Deeken said.

For the fourth year in a row, Deeken has proposed legislation that would halt all executions in the state while a committee reviewed the process and the cases of a sample of death row inmates.

But Deeken said he is a lifelong advocate for the death penalty.

"Some of these people, the way they killed, it was so gruesome that I have no remorse for them whatsoever," Deeken said.

Deeken's legislation is part of a growing national trend, said Richard Dieter, Death Penalty Information Center executive director.

During the last seven years, there has been a steady decrease in the number of executions carried out.

"The main factor in this has been the appearance of innocence cases in great numbers," Dieter said.

Eight other states, including Kansas, Nebraska, Montana and New Mexico, are debating legislation that would abolish the death penalty.

"For some people it's simply a moral issue or an issue of life or ethics, and that crosses party lines," Dieter said.

A large part of the debate has also been the cost for pursuing the death penalty.

Dieter said the cost of pursuing the death penalty was a key issue in the debate in many of these states.

"Spending money on the death penalty is like building a bridge to nowhere," Dieter said in a news release. "It takes millions of taxpayer dollars to arrive at a single execution 15 years after the trial. At a time when states are cutting back on teachers, police officers, health care, infrastructure and other vital services, citizens are increasingly concerned that the death penalty is not the best use of their limited resources."

Deeken's bill in the Missouri House has more than 60 co-sponsors so far, mostly Democrats.

"Its not a political thing, it's a common sense thing," Dieter said, citing former Illinois Gov. George Ryan, a Republican, who put in place a moratorium on all executions in the state, which is still in place.

Dieter said the money spent on the death penalty doesn't produce results.

"It's hard for people to see that, but once you get past the rhetoric, you can see that it's just not working," he said.

When Deeken's bill was initially read before the Missouri State House, it drew a large crowd.

More than 1,000 people gathered for a rally supporting the moratorium, organized by Moratorium Now!, a Missouri-based coalition of organizations in favor of the moratorium.

Colleen Cunningham, Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty executive director, said she's excited about the moratorium.

"Nobody spoke against the bill," Cunningham said. "Momentum just keeps building."