Wyoming had the chance to repeal the death penalty… and blew it.

The State House passed the repeal bill without a problem — a surprise given the House’s GOP majority. But when the bill reached the State Senate, despite a unanimous recommendation in support of it by the Senate Judiciary Committee, it was defeated 18-12.

What’s especially troubling is how one of those Republicans defended her vote to let the government execute people:

Sen. Lynn Hutchings, R-Cheyenne, argued that without the death penalty, Jesus Christ would not have been able to die to absolve the sins of mankind, and therefore capital punishment should be maintained. “The greatest man who ever lived died via the death penalty for you and me,” she said. “I’m grateful to him for our future hope because of this. Governments were instituted to execute justice. If it wasn’t for Jesus dying via the death penalty, we would all have no hope.”

Jesus was executed and that worked out for everyone. Therefore, our government should get to kill people, too.

There’s that Christian “pro-life” logic we all cherish…

It’s bizarre thinking, too, coming from a Christian. After all, isn’t the whole New Testament fairy tale all about how Jesus wasn’t guilty of any serious crime? They executed an innocent man! She’s proving the other side’s point!

That said, I’ll settle for a compromise here. Let the worst criminals remain in prisoner forever, while the government only gets permission to execute prophets. I’d be okay with that.

Hutchings, by the way, isn’t known for her stellar reasoning. Earlier this month, she made headlines for comparing homosexuality with bestiality and pedophilia… in front of high school students.

According to officials with Wyoming Equality, a Cheyenne-based civil rights group, Hutchings told 10 students from the Gay-Straight Alliance at Cheyenne’s Central High, “If my sexual orientation was to have sex with all of the men in there and I had sex with all of the women in there and then they brought their children and I had sex with all of them and then brought their dogs in and I had sex with them, should I be protected for my sexual orientation?”

… the Aristocrats?

Hutchings doesn’t deserve all of the blame for the death penalty repeal failure, but she’s a powerful reminder that advocates for the death penalty have no good reasons in support of their bloodlust.

Still, I’m shocked that one of those attempted defenses is “Do It For Jesus.”

(Screenshot via YouTube. Thanks to Hallie for the link)

