Committee tables bill to abolish the death penalty

HELENA - Members of the House Judiciary Committee voted 10-8 today to table a bill that would have abolished the death penalty in Montana.

Senate Bill 236, sponsored by Sen. David Wanzenried, D-Missoula, would replace the death penalty with a life sentence without the possibility of parole. The bill received considerable attention so far this session, with emotional and lengthy hearings.

The committee vote was mostly party-line, with all nine Republicans and one Democrat, Rep. Arlene Becker of Billings, voting to block the measure from advancing to a vote of the full 100-member House.

Supporters of SB 236 said the death penalty is expensive, out-dated, unfairly used and goes against the right to life. Opponents maintained that some crimes are worthy of death, and capital punishment is useful to prosecutors as a bargaining chip to win guilty pleas to lesser charges.

-by CNS correspondent Molly Priddy