Despite cost, Calif. votes to keep death penalty

Execution holding cells at San Quentin prison, California. / AP

LOS ANGELES California voters rejected the latest attempt to repeal California's death penalty, dealing a blow to activists who saw this election as their best chance in 35 years to end capital punishment in the state.

With all ballots counted, voters rejected Proposition 34 by a margin of 52.8 percent to 47.2 percent. The defeat came even though recent polling showed concern growing over the cost of capital punishment and its paltry results in California.

California has executed just 13 convicts and its death row has ballooned to 726 inmates since 71 percentage of the electorate voted to reinstate capital punishment in 1978. No executions have taken place since 2006 because of federal and state lawsuits filed by death row inmates.

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The Legislative Analyst has said ending the death penalty would save the state $130 million annually.

Still, a majority of California voters still support the punishment in California.

"The people of California sent a clear message that the death penalty should still be implemented for those who commit the most heinous and unthinkable crimes," said McGregor Scott, the former U.S. attorney for Sacramento who served as the opposition's co-chairman.

Proposition 34 would have repealed capital punishment in California and shuttered death row, converting the death sentences of 726 inmates to life without the possibility of parole. The measure also would have created a $100 million fund to help investigate unsolved murder and rape cases.

The measure's backers, including the American Civil Liberties Union, vowed to continue fighting to end the death penalty in California.

"The mere fact that the state is evenly divided is nothing short of extraordinary," said Jeanne Woodford, a former warden of San Quentin Prison, where death row is located.

Woodford worked for the Proposition 34 campaign and is now an anti-death penalty crusader.

Supporters had pointed to an influential study published by a federal appeals court judge and law professor that concluded California has spent $4 billion to carry out just 13 executions and cover other death penalty costs since capital punishment was reinstated in 1978.

But many influential law enforcement officials and three former governors opposed the ballot measure. They argued that the condemned inmates would escape justice and that there were no true cost savings from closing death row.

The measure's backers vastly outspent opponents $6.5 million to $1 million. Billionaires Nicholas Pritzker and Charles Feeney, through his philanthropic fund, each donated $1 million. The American Civil Liberties Union contributed more than $700,000 and ran the campaign.

Federal and state judges have halted executions in the state since 2006 after ordering prison officials to develop new lethal injection procedures. Those lawsuits are still being litigated.

[Starbux66]

They can save money by streamlining the appeals process and bring the time it takes to execute a criminal from 20 years down to 3. It cost money only because condemned are allowed to abuse the appellate, by filing superfluous appeals that have very little to no merit.

Both the federal and state appeals should be done simultaneously. It should take no more than 3 years after conviction to execute the criminal. This would reduce the cost.

[Sheryl_Bratcher]

This just boggles my mind.

Aside from the money issue...How are we showing people that killing some one is unacceptable when killing them is the punishment?

Doesn't that qualify as an oxymoron?

[Starbux66]

This was never the intent. Death Penalty is not to show that killing is wrong. It is to show that when you commit a crime that goes beyond a certain threshold, you will not only forfeit your freedom but you forfeit your right to live.

[ammo17]

i guess they think it is cheaper to house, clothe and feed the killiers for the rest of their lives maybe 60 or 70 years.instead of hitting them with a couple hundred dollars worth of chemicals.no wonder that state is always in financial trouble,they don`t know basic math.

[justme-123]

On one side we the strong emotional craving for revenge when a horrible crime is committed. On the other, we see the intellectual reasoning that there really is only one way to make sure we never execute an innocent person. And so far, the strong emotions are still carrying the day.

[justme-123]

Edit function: On one side we see the strong emotional craving for revenge when a horrible crime is committed. On the other, we see the intellectual reasoning that there really is only one way to make sure we never execute an innocent person. And so far, the strong emotions are still carrying the day.

[workerdroid]

So, media jerks. How come something like the death penalty you dislike so much passes by a "slim margin", and Obama beats Romney by a couple hundred votes and he gets a mandate?
Do you realize how little credibility you people have?

[mrleme]

California judicial system is so broken I can't imagine it being repairable. They block anything conservative voted by the people regardless of the constitution. Where are the other two branches of government in California to rein in the judges?

[newmuch]

It would be interesting to know how many of those who voted against repealing the death penalty consider themselves "pro-life" on the family planning issue.

[mrleme]

Pro-life has nothing to do with the likes of Charles Manson who should have been executed for his crimes. Babies do not commit crimes.

[randyshu]

Maybe if they used it the way it was meant to be used it would be effective. Kin to giving a drowning man a life jacket and him not putting it on.
Wonder what would happen if we had 721 hangings this month?
I'm all for appeal but let's be reasonable. Tons of money could be used more effectively than housing vicious criminals. Kill them, bury them, move on.

[AOCGUY]

And in five years when evidence is uncovered that the man or woman we just executed was in fact innocent then what? Of course that never happens.