Utah lawmakers rejected a proposal to abolish the state's death penalty on Monday after an emotional hearing full of testimony from murder victims' families
SALT LAKE CITY — — A push to repeal the death penalty in Utah has been narrowly rejected, but an emotional hearing this week laid bare divisions among conservatives that have taken shape in Republican-led statehouses.
The discussion covered familiar, decades-old arguments about the nature of justice, wrongful convictions and costs. But this time, opponents argued the death penalty can also add pain and suffering for families of victims. They said the lengthy appeals process prolonged the harm inflicted on victims' relatives.
Brenda Lafferty, Weeks' sister, was murdered in 1984 along with her daughter Erica, by two of her brothers-in-law, Ron and Dan Lafferty. Dan got life in prison. Ron was sentenced to death, but before being executedRecent death penalty repeals have only passed inut Snow framed his push as part of a growing movement of Republican lawmakers in red states who, like him, are taking on leading roles in the push to abolish the practice.
Republicans like Snow have also pointed to wrongful convictions to suggest giving the state power to take life conflicts with their small government principles. They have argued the death penalty's high price tag makes it fiscally irresponsible in some states, including Utah, where a 2018 statefound the state had spent $40 million prosecuting dozens of death penalty cases, just two of which ended in a death sentence.
Andrew Peterson, the Utah Attorney General’s capital case coordinator, said the death penalty allowed prosecutors to satisfy “the covenant society has made with victims to seek proportional justice to honor a victim’s life and dignity.”
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