Iowa death penalty debate could ignite in 2018 Legislature

It's been 54 years since gallows were last used to hang a convicted murderer at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison, but a debate over capital punishment could be revived in the Iowa Legislature's 2018 session.

State Sen. Jerry Behn, R-Boone, says he will seek Senate debate on Senate File 335, which would reinstate the death penalty for multiple offenses in which a minor is kidnapped, raped and murdered. The session convenes Jan. 8.

Behn told the Des Moines Register he wants to prevent deaths like that of Jetseta Gage, who was abducted from her grandmother's residence in March 2005 and found slain the next day in a mobile home southwest of Iowa City. The girl had been sexually abused, and two men remain in prison for crimes against her.

Behn's bill has five co-sponsors, including Sen. Brad Zaun, R-Urbandale, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has been assigned the measure. Iowa's last execution was in 1963 and the state outlawed the death penalty in 1965.

"The Iowa Code has kind of a perverse sense of having you come out better off by murdering your victim," Behn said. "That's because if you kidnap somebody, you can get life in prison. If you rape somebody, you can get life in prison. And if you murder somebody, you can get life in prison. Well, if you kidnap, rape and murder someone, you are no worse off if you just murder them so there is no evidence. It kind of encourages you to get rid of anybody involved in it."

But death penalty opponents are vowing a fight if there is a serious push to reinstate capital punishment.

"There is no such thing as a limited death penalty. You either have it or you don't," said Marty Ryan, president of Iowans Against the Death Penalty.

Ryan called Behn's bill "extremely flawed" and notes that Iowa has one of the lowest murder rates in the nation. In 2016, Iowa's murder rate was 2.3 per 100,000 people, less than half the national average of 5.3 percent.

Last inmate killed in Iowa

Iowa law currently allows life sentences for convictions of first-degree murder and the most serious cases of rape and kidnapping. Iowa's last execution was on March 15, 1963, when Victor Harry Feguer, a federal inmate, was hanged for kidnapping and killing Edward Bartels, a Dubuque physician. President John F. Kennedy denied an 11th-hour bid for clemency made by Gov. Harold Hughes.

Thirty-one states permit the death penalty and 1,465 executions have been carried out in the United States since 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

During the 2017 Legislature's session, Zaun supported Behn's bill and scheduled a subcommittee hearing on it, but there wasn't time to consider the proposal before a key legislative deadline. Behn said he now wants to revive his request for a subcommittee hearing to consider advancing the measure, although Zaun said the Senate Judiciary Committee's goals for the upcoming session haven't been set yet.

"No decisions will be made until I get an opportunity to discuss with my fellow Republican colleagues at our upcoming caucus in a couple of weeks," Zaun said.

However, several lawmakers in the Senate's majority Republican caucus expressed support for Behn's proposal and want it signed into law by Gov. Kim Reynolds. There is also talk at the Iowa Capitol of adding the slaying of a law enforcement officer to the death penalty bill — which has been spurred by the November 2016 ambush-style shooting deaths of Des Moines Police Sgt. Anthony Beminio and Urbandale Officer Justin Martin.

"There are just some crimes that are so serious that justice requires the death penalty," said Sen. Jake Chapman, R-Adel, a co-sponsor of Behn's bill.

Sen. Mark Chelgren, R-Ottumwa, said opponents of the death penalty have told him they are "pro-life," but he calls himself "pro-innocent life."

"I believe in protecting children and I believe in dealing harshly with people who have actually demonstrated themselves to be evil," Chelgren said. "The Constitution says we can have no cruel and unusual punishment. But it did allow for the death penalty."

Former Gov. Terry Branstad had favored the death penalty in limited circumstances; for instance, if a victim was kidnapped or raped and then killed — two Class A felonies. His successor, Gov. Kim Reynolds, became the state's chief executive in May. Reynolds doesn't comment on legislation until she sees it in final form, "but would be willing to consider such a bill," said Brenna Smith, Reynolds' press secretary.

Behn, who has served in the Legislature for two decades, said it's too early to predict whether his death penalty bill can pass the Senate in the 2018 session.

"This is one of those bills that is not necessarily Republican or Democrat," Behn said. "I think we will just talk about it and see what kind of support you can get. If we get enough to bring it up, fine. But it has to get out of committee first."

A host of groups lined up last session to oppose Behn's proposal. They included the Iowa Attorney General's Office, the Iowa Academy of Trial Lawyers, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People-Iowa and Nebraska; Iowans Against the Death Penalty, American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, the Iowa Catholic Conference, Iowa Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, Episcopal Diocese of Iowa, and Interfaith Alliance of Iowa.

Daniel Zeno, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa, said opposition to the death penalty has been a cornerstone of the ACLU since the organization's founding in 1920.

"We believe it is inherently unconstitutional. It is cruel and unusual punishment and a violation of fair treatment under the law," Zeno said.

Furthermore, data show the death penalty is racially discriminatory and there are often errors in the justice system, Zeno added. "The decision about life and death too often depends upon race or geography or the quality of the lawyer that the person got, and we also think it fails to protect innocent people. So far, we know that there have been over 150 people who have been exonerated from the death penalty."

Zeno said the ACLU supports making sure there are serious consequences for "horrible, horrible" crimes. But a mistake in a death penalty case could result in an innocent person being killed, he added. "So our position is that even though these are hard, tragic cases, the state shouldn't be using the death penalty."

Previous debate in the Legislature

The last major debate in the Iowa Legislature over capital punishment occurred in 1995, when it was rejected by the Senate. Since then, lawmakers have generally accepted the idea that Iowa will not execute murderers, and people convicted of first-degree murder and given life sentences in recent years have rarely been granted clemency by the state's governors.

However, similar legislation was unsuccessfully proposed by Senate Republicans four years ago after the abductions and slayings of Iowa cousins Elizabeth Collins, 8, and Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10. The girls disappeared from Evansdale in July 2012 and their bodies were discovered months later by hunters in Bremer County. No one has been charged in connection with their deaths.

In the House, Judiciary Chairman Chip Baltimore, R-Boone, said he doesn't plan to introduce a death penalty bill in the 2018 session, but it would be considered if the Senate approves such legislation. He added that the death penalty was briefly discussed among some House members last session to determine if there was any interest in pursuing the issue "and there didn't seem to be any momentum behind it."

The Des Moines Register last polled on the issue of capital punishment in 2006. At that time, 66 percent of Iowa adults favored reviving the death penalty for certain crimes, and 29 percent opposed it.