VADP

Action Alert - March 9^th, 2009

Dear Friends,

 

Today we again celebrate the Senate Courts of Justice Committee’s decision to say NO to eliminating the “triggerman rule - dangerous and excessive death penalty expansion legislation!  However, we are disappointed that the Committee did report House Bills 166 and 934 to expand the death penalty to include the murder of fire marshals and auxiliary law enforcement officers. 

 

Thank you to the hundreds of supporters who called and wrote their Senators.  This success was made possible through your hard work!  There are a few more important actions to take before the legislative session ends and I ask for your help.

 

We are especially grateful to the members of the Senate Courts of Justice Committee that voted against at least one of these dangerous expansion bills: Senators Deeds, Marsh, Saslaw, Howell, Lucas, Edwards, Puller, McEachin, and Petersen.  Please take the time thank these Senators by calling or emailing them today.  Their contact information can be found by clicking on their name above. If you are a constituent of any of these Senators make sure to let them know where you live.  To locate your legislators click here. 

 

The three expansion bills that were voted out of committee, Senate Bill 520, House Bill 934 and House Bill 166 will now be voted on the floor of the House and Senate respectively.  These bills would include the murder of fire marshals and auxiliary law enforcement officers and will be heard on Tuesday or Wednesday so please take action TODAY:

 

 

Talking points for these bills can be found at the bottom of this email.  To locate your Senator and Delegate click here. 

 

Thank you for all of your support and hard work during the 2010 legislative session to defeat eliminating the “triggerman” rule.  Your dedication is helping to change momentum in Virginia away from expanding the death penalty and toward reforms and abolition. 

 

Peace & Hope,

Beth

 

Talking Points When Contacting Your Senator

 

-          I am a constituent and live _______________.

-          I am calling/writing to urge you to oppose all death penalty expansion legislation including House Bills 934 & 166 (if talking to your Senator) or Senate Bill 520 (if talking to your Delegate)

-          This legislation was never sent to the Crime Commission for review which has been standard procedure for these types of bills. 

-          The capital punishment system is broken and it is crucial that we examine the system and not continue to expand it.

-          The death penalty is costly to the taxpayers of the Commonwealth and during this budget shortfall we should not pass unnecessary legislation with fiscal impacts when critical services are being cut.

-          Virginia has an extremely broad capital murder statute which has led us to be only second to Texas in the number of individuals executed since 1976 (105).  It is excessive to pass legislation to make the use of the death penalty more frequent in the Commonwealth.

-          The already capricious application of the death penalty regarding both race and geography would be significantly enhanced through this legislation.

-          The death penalty is not a deterrent and expanding the capital murder statute will not make the citizens of Virginia any safer. 

-          Convictions for first-degree murder may already be punished with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, an extraordinarily severe punishment. 

-          Life imprisonment allows for the opportunity to correct any errors and removes the risk of executing innocent people.  Virginia came within days of executing Earl Washington Jr. before allowing DNA evidence to be examined which proved his innocence and there have been 139 exonerations from death row nationwide.