Triggerman rule; eliminated. (HB782)
Introduced By
Del. Todd Gilbert (R-Woodstock) with support from 13 copatrons, whose average partisan position is:
Those copatrons are Del. Clay Athey (R-Front Royal), Del. Vince Callahan (R-McLean), Del. Tim Hugo (R-Centreville), Del. Steve Landes (R-Weyers Cave), Del. Matt Lohr (R-Harrisonburg), Del. Danny Marshall (R-Danville), Del. John O'Bannon (R-Richmond), Del. Tom Rust (R-Herndon), Del. Terrie Suit (R-Virginia Beach), Del. John Welch (R-Virginia Beach), Del. Tommy Wright (R-Victoria), Sen. John Cosgrove (R-Chesapeake), Sen. Mark Obenshain (R-Harrisonburg)
Progress
✓ |
Introduced |
✓ |
Passed Committee |
✓ |
Passed House |
☐ |
Passed Senate |
☐ |
Signed by Governor |
☐ |
Became Law |
Description
Elimination of the triggerman rule. Eliminates the "triggerman rule," which provides that only the actual perpetrator of a capital murder is eligible for the death penalty, and that accessories and principals in the second degree can only be punished with first degree murder. Read the Bill »
Outcome
History
| Date | Action |
|---|---|
| 01/10/2006 | Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/06 066144306 |
| 01/10/2006 | Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice |
| 01/11/2006 | Fiscal impact statement from VCSC (HB782) |
| 01/18/2006 | Assigned to Courts of Justice sub-committee: Criminal Law |
| 02/06/2006 | Reported from Courts of Justice (15-Y 1-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/08/2006 | Read first time |
| 02/09/2006 | Passed by for the day |
| 02/10/2006 | Read second time and engrossed |
| 02/13/2006 | Read third time and passed House (83-Y 16-N) |
| 02/13/2006 | VOTE: PASSAGE (83-Y 16-N) (see vote tally) |
| 02/13/2006 | Communicated to Senate |
| 02/14/2006 | Constitutional reading dispensed |
| 02/14/2006 | Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice |
| 03/06/2006 | Continued to 2007 in Courts of Justice with letter (15-Y 0-N) (see vote tally) |
| 03/06/2006 | Letter sent to Crime Commission |
Comments
I'm opposed to the death penalty anyway, but I have two very specific concerns about this bill.
1. When Virginia first adopted the current death penalty statute in 1977, it did so with reluctance. Speaker A. L. Philpott -- a true conservative in the sense that he was leery of government exercise of power -- made sure that the number of crimes that were death-eligible was fairly small, for two reasons. He wanted the death penalty to be reserved for the worst of the worst, not just the bad. And he wanted it to be reserved for those for whom guilt was not likely to be an issue. If someone is charged with murder in the course of a robbery, it is fairly easy to know when that crime has been committed. It is fairly easy to decide that the person who pulled the trigger intended death or at least serious bodily harm. It is not clear if two people go into a store and one person shoots the clerk whether the other person intended that anyone die. We are opening the door here to a much larger number of people who will be subject to the death penalty.
2. Other states that do not have a triggerman rule have extremely complex rules about how the state has to prove the constitutionally required mental state to justify a death sentence. We have been blessed to avoid that furor, but now this bill steps us right into the middle of it.