Protecting the death penalty

Good for the Senate.

A proposal to allow non-unanimous jury verdicts in capital cases was rejected resoundingly Thursday in the state Senate, where lawmakers accused their House counterparts of playing politics with Georgia’s death penalty.

The Senate voted 44-7 to delete the surprise amendment approved Wednesday in the House. It would have allowed a judge to impose death when at least 10 of 12 jurors supported it. Current law requires a unanimous verdict.

When I saw the House proposal my first thought was that its passage would mean the federal courts would strike it down as unconstitutional.