Senate debates bill to abolish the death penalty

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Sen. Paul Wieland is known in the Senate for his quiet demeanor in the legislature, but one of his bills caused quite the ruckus on the floor of the Senate.

Fierce debate gripped the chamber into the evening Monday on Wieland’s HB 816, which would abolish the death penalty in the state of Missouri.

“I’m a devout Catholic, and I believe in the sanctity of life from the moment of conception to natural death,” Wieland said.

Wieland then inquired Sen. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, and most of the Democratic caucus on the inadequacies of the criminal justice system when it came to putting people to death. Schaaf said he stopped believing in the death penalty when former Gov. Mel Carnahan arbitrarily commuted the sentenced of a man on death row to serve life in prison because of a visit from Pope John Paul II.

“Missouri’s death penalty system is arbitrary,” Schaaf said. He also criticized the racial and class disparity evident when the death penalty is handed down, calling it a “crap shoot of justice, fraught with institutional racism… There are people who get inadequate legal representation, and this is a very good reason to think about whether or not we should have the death penalty.”

“You get the justice you can afford.”

Over 50% of people killed in by death penalty in MO are African American. African Americans are 13% of the state population. #moleg — Sarah K. Rossi (@SarahKRossi) February 9, 2016

Sen. Joe Keaveny, D-St. Louis, brought up the story written by Buzzfeed’s Chris McDaniel that alleged the Missouri Department of Corrections of using paper envelopes filled with cash to pay drug suppliers for the process and the failure of past legislation he sponsored which would mandate a study into the state’s death penalty process.

“In this state, we do such a terrible job of handling this,” he said. “I can’t think of any other program in state gov’t where we would close our eyes… and hope the problem goes away.”

After Wieland heard from nearly every Democrat, he attempted to end debate, noting that the chamber did not have the political will to pass the bill.

“I know I don’t have the votes to pass this bill, but… I hope we can open up some hearts and minds,” Wieland said.

The majority of Republicans were quick to respond. The strongest opponents of the legislation were two senators with experience in law enforcement: Sen. Mike Parson, R-Bolivar, a former sheriff, and Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, a former prosecutor.

Parson spoke passionately about the need for the death penalty to punish those who commit especially heinous crimes, going into great detail about the case Steven Ray Thacker, a man who murdered three people in Oklahoma and Southwest Missouri. Side discussion all but stopped completely while he spoke about the case which he had worked.

“It’s almost as though we’re talking about victims, but what we’re really talking about is killers,” Parson said. “Today, we almost want to make it sound like they’re the victims. I have more experience in seeing death than I care to even talk about.”

Schaefer also advocated for the death penalty as punishment.

“It’s not capital deterrence, it’s capital punishment,” he said. “These are people that if they were not contained, they would kill more people. They would create more victims.”

The bill ultimately did not receive a vote after discussion. However, this marked the first time since Republicans took the majority that legislation to abolish the death penalty has been heard on the Senate floor.