Senate panel OKs limiting death-row inmates' appeals

A proposed amendment to the Utah Constitution, intended to stop endless appeals of murder convictions and allow executions to proceed, was narrowly approved by the Senate Judiciary, Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee on Tuesday.

SJR14, sponsored by Sen. Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, will require a two-thirds majority vote in both the House and the Senate and, if approved by both chambers, will appear on the ballot for the 2010 general election.

Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, a strong supporter of the proposal, talked to committee members about the need for the amendment and assured them that he "never takes amending the constitution of the state of Utah lightly."

He described a state Supreme Court that seemed unwilling to carry out death penalty sentences, something Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, said he saw as well.

"It appears to me that our high court really doesn't want to carry out the execution," Buttars said.

Buttars called the proposed amendment "about 20 years overdue," reminding fellow senators that it has been 20 years since an execution has taken place in the state.

Shurtleff introduced family members of murder victims to the panel and told them, "At some point the criminal's rights give way to the victim's rights."

Kevin Church, whose brother was tortured and murdered in the 1980s, said it was "ridiculous" that his brother's killer was still alive.

"My brother is dead and gone," Church said. "This man is still on death row. He was sentenced to death."

Matt Hunsaker described his mother's 1986 murder, telling committee members that her killer, who is still alive on death row, "tied her up to a tree and slit her throat from ear to ear."

"What is closure? We have no idea," Hunsaker said.

Shurtleff said the amendment was needed to "bring justice back to the victims of these terrible crimes."

Daniel Medwed, an associate professor of law at the University of Utah, disagreed with Shurtleff, telling committee members that the proposed amendment would be unprecedented and extreme.

"It's a drastic remedy to amend the state constitution because of objections over three or four Supreme Court decisions," Medwed said.

Shurtleff told senators that adoption of the amendment would not bring about a radical departure from current practices.

"It doesn't mean we're going to be executing people in five years like Texas does," he said.

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