CA Assembly Passes Bid to Extend Prop 47 Criminal Reclassification: The California Assembly passed a bill Tuesday that allows felons additional time to reduce their punishments under Proposition 47. Liam Dillon of the LA Times reports that Prop. 47, approved by voters in 2014, changed certain property and drug crimes from felonies to misdemeanors and allowed individuals previously convicted under the old rules to seek lowering their punishments. With the latter provision ending next year, the bill introduced by Assemblywoman Shirley Weber (D-San Diego) would extend relief eligibility to felons for five more years. Since its implementation, Prop. 47 has stirred controversy in California, with many law enforcement officials and organizations, including the California Police Chiefs Assn., believing it to be a major contributor to a rise in crime across the state. "Prop. 47 has enough problems," said Assemblyman Travis Allen (R-Huntington Beach). "Let's not give [felons] five more years."
La. Prohibited from Executions before 2018, Judge Rules: Louisiana is barred from carrying out its next scheduled execution before January 2018, as per an order from a federal judge. KATC reports that U.S. District Judge James Brady granted Attorney General Jeff Landry request for an 18-month extension on Tuesday, effectively putting the executions of Christopher Sepulvado and five other death row inmates, who are all plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the state's lethal injection method, on hold. Sepulvado is on death row for fatally beating and scalding his six-year-old stepson in 1992.
WV May Bring Back Death Penalty: West Virginia delegate Rupie Phillips will introduce a bill in next year's legislative session to bring back the death penalty, which has been abolished since 1965, Jeff Jenkins of Metro News reports. This comes just one week after Ben Hatfield, a coal executive, was shot and killed after an attempted robbery. Phillips describes Hatfield as a "friend of man and a supporter of mine," and believes that capital punishment should be reinstated for these kinds of "cowardly acts."
La. Prohibited from Executions before 2018, Judge Rules: Louisiana is barred from carrying out its next scheduled execution before January 2018, as per an order from a federal judge. KATC reports that U.S. District Judge James Brady granted Attorney General Jeff Landry request for an 18-month extension on Tuesday, effectively putting the executions of Christopher Sepulvado and five other death row inmates, who are all plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging the state's lethal injection method, on hold. Sepulvado is on death row for fatally beating and scalding his six-year-old stepson in 1992.
WV May Bring Back Death Penalty: West Virginia delegate Rupie Phillips will introduce a bill in next year's legislative session to bring back the death penalty, which has been abolished since 1965, Jeff Jenkins of Metro News reports. This comes just one week after Ben Hatfield, a coal executive, was shot and killed after an attempted robbery. Phillips describes Hatfield as a "friend of man and a supporter of mine," and believes that capital punishment should be reinstated for these kinds of "cowardly acts."
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