No More Death Penalty in NY State - For Now

NY State will no longer impose the death penalty as State Assembly Democrats have killed a bill that would have brought it to the whole Assembly for a vote. NY State started to impose the death penalty in 1995, after Governor Pataki used the issue as part of his campaign platform when he ran against Mario Cuomo in 1994. However, last year, the death penalty was found unconstitutional by an appeals court. The AP notes that no one has ever been executed in NY since the death penalty was enacted. Assembly Republicans say they may fight for the death penalty in a floor vote, proving that the issue will be a political fight between the two parties. What Gothamist found interesting was to be reminded that Democrat Sheldon Silver of Manhattan, who is the Assembly Leader, actually supported the death penalty, though his support has "cooled" of late; Attorney General Eliot Spitzer is also a death penalty supporter.

The NY Times says that what NY State has done is, essentially, the farthest a state has gone to putting the "law to limbo"; other states like Connecticut, Nebraska, New Mexico, Illinois and Kansas have been trying to deal with the law. In other Albany news, the budget that was so ballyhooed for being on time (for once) has to be redone.