US Congress moves to cut delays in death sentences

US Congress moves to cut delays in death sentences
Web posted at: 11/17/2005 2:19:28
Source ::: Reuters

WASHINGTON: Republicans in the US Congress said yesterday they were moving ahead with legislation that would speed up executions in the United States by limiting the ability of those sentenced to death to appeal to federal courts.

Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter said he intended to bring the so-called "Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005" to a vote today in the Judiciary Committee which he chairs. A similar bill is also moving forward in the House of Representatives and could clear the committee stage soon.

Republicans have also attached a key provision of the bill to legislation renewing the USA Patriot Act, which Congress is expected to act on later this month. Lawmakers clashed fiercely at a hearing on Wednesday of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Vermont Democrat Senator Patrick Leahy called it a "crude partisan solution to an unproven and largely nonexistent problem."

Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl, the bill's author, said he resented that characterization and insisted he had consulted widely with members of both parties. Leahy later withdrew the words "crude" and "partisan" and apologised. The bill would restrict the ability of defendants facing the death sentence to have their cases reviewed by federal courts in what are known as habeas corpus appeals.
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Jon Kyl, author of the bill.

all warm and fuzzy inside.

begin "self-abuse" as we speak

and the frmr Illinois gov should have executed all those folks before there was a chance to find out that nearly half on death row were not guilty of the charges that earned them the death sentence.

Makes the Grandchildren have some thing to brag about.

These people are sick. SICK. And their euphemistic bill title "The Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005" makes me want to throw up. These people are just wrong in the head, every last one of them. Jon Kill is a prick extraordinare.

for the Prison Industrial Complex, now can they? So kill 'em quicker and save $$$. Doesn't matter if they might be innocent and wrongly sentenced to death. Doesn't matter to these murdering scums. They should pray they are never victims of mistaken identity in a crime that has the death penalty as a sentence. Or if they are, that they have a high dollar attorney who can properly defend them and not some over worked, case overload Public Defender.

This is the problem with the Dems in the beltway. Stop apologizing to the GOP when you call them out on their bullshit!

Its things like this that the GOP points to when they say the Dems are 'spineless' dammit!

So they seem to be saying.

That's sarcasm. We had 13 innocent guys on death row here in Illinois. I guess one way of looking at it is that we would have only had one or two innocent guys on death row under Kyl's plan, because the rest would have been FUCKING DEAD.

what an ass. this is gonna fail too... and be plenty unpopular. Even their "base" can't be this dumb.

the two worst assholes in the senate.Down here in cactus country the rednecks love um.

after the execution?