House approves sentencing changes
The House unanimously approved a measure that would give prosecutors more leeway to seek sentences of life in prison without parole.
SB13 was withdrawn and recommitted on March 17, a move which, according to the AP, caused “angry Senate sponsors [to] accuse House leaders of trying to amend it to allow the death penalty without a unanimous jury verdict.”
The bill as passed didn’t make it any easier for prosecutors to obtain the death penalty; rather, it revoked the requirement that prosecutors push for capital punishment as a first option and hold life imprisonment without parole in reserve.
The bill now goes to conference, and then to the Governor for his signature.
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