Stop Death Penalty Expansion in Virginia

You may have heard the news this week that the House of Delegates passed two death penalty expansion bills. Although this is disappointing news, we still have a good chance of stopping these and other dangerous and excessive expansions but we need your help!

The Senate Courts of Justice Committee will hear three death penalty bills on Monday February 15th at either 8am or 9am in Senate Room A of the General Assembly Building. We will not know the exact time until next week. It is critical that we have as many abolitionists as possible at this meeting. I ask you to please come to the General Assembly that morning so the Senate Courts of Justice Committee can see the large amount of opposition to death penalty expansion. Your presence will have a major impact!

If you are interested in attending this meeting or would like more information please contact me at beth@vadp.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or (434) 960-7779. At the bottom of this email you will find a list of the expansion bills that will be heard on the 15th. This information along with fact sheets can also be found on our website, www.vadp.org under "2010 General Assembly".

Thank you for your support of abolition and stopping this dangerous expansion legislation. I hope to see you in Richmond on February 15th!

Peace & Hope,
Virginians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (VADP)

2010 Death Penalty Expansion Legislation

Redefinition of the "Triggerman Rule":

VADP opposes SB 7 and HB 502. The current statute provides that all individuals that take a direct part in inflicting fatal injuries can be prosecuted for capital murder and are eligible for the death penalty. This bill would allow principals in the second degree and accessories before the fact to be charged with capital murder and eligible for the death penalty. This is an exceedingly broad expansion which would lead to less clarity within the capital murder statute and issues in application. The already capricious application of the death penalty regarding both race and geography would be enhanced and the number of individuals eligible for the death penalty would increase. It would also significantly increase the financial burden on the Commonwealth.


Additional Death Penalty Expansion:

VADP opposes HB 166 which would add auxiliary law-enforcement officers, EMS personnel, and fire marshals and assistant fire marshals with law-enforcement powers to the capital murder statute so that the death sentence can be imposed for their murder. This legislation would address few, if any; situations not already covered within the current statute and could lead to less clarity within the statute and more arbitrary application of the death penalty.

VADP opposes SB 54 which would add the following personnel to the capital murder statute so that a death sentence can be imposed for the murder of such a person in the performance of the person's official duties: fire marshals and assistant fire marshals with law-enforcement powers, firefighters, special forest wardens, emergency medical technicians, lifesaving and rescue squad members, arson investigators, volunteer firefighters and lifesaving or rescue squad members if the governing body has adopted a resolution acknowledging the volunteers as employees for the purposes of workers' compensation, and persons certified as emergency medical service providers.

VADP opposes HB 934 which would add auxiliary police officers and auxiliary deputy sheriffs to the capital murder statute so that the death sentence can be imposed for their murder.

VADP opposes SB 520 which would add auxiliary police officers and auxiliary deputy sheriffs to the definition of law-enforcement officer in the capital murder statute so that the death sentence can be imposed for the murder of such an officer.