By J. Lyn Carl, GalleryWatch.com
Austin, TX – The "life without parole" bill (SB 348) by Sen. Eddie Lucio never saw the light of day on the Senate floor Tuesday. Lucio was unable to garner enough votes to suspend the rules to hear the bill.
"You do not have to be against the death penatly to support this option," said Lucio as he attempted to steer his bill to passage. The bill provides for life without parole as a sentencing option for juries hearing capital cases.
Lucio said there are some crimes where justice can only be served by a death sentence as punishment. However, he noted his bill gives Texas juries "all the available tools" to make their decisions on punishments.
Lucio said he is not a supporter of doing away with the death penalty, but is a supporter of "jury options."
The legislation, he said, will help keep the most dangerous offenders off the streets forever.
Calling his legislation "tough on crime," Lucio said although it is highly unlikely that a capital offender will ever be paroled, life without parole sometimes is an appropriate punishment for some crimes. "The laws we pass," he said, "establish standards of punishment."
Allowing for a life without parole sentence for some capital offenders will provide closure for many families of victims, said Lucio, and will strengthen the judicial system and show respect for Texas juries.
He cited statistics from other states that show that offenders who have been given life without parole sentences require no greater management than other prisoners.
Lucio said a recent poll shows that 72 percent of Texans want the life without parole sentencing option and 86 percent of that same group also favor the death penalty.
Sen. Todd Staples (R-Palestine) said in committee the majority of prosecutors who testified are opposed to the life without parole option and said he views the bill as a step backward for the criminal justice system.
Lucio countered saying his legislation would be a major step forward for closure for families of victims, and where juries would have two options - life or life without parole.
Sen. Steve Ogden (R-Bryan) questioned if the death penalty statute would be challenged if Lucio's bill passes. "In order for a jury to sentence a defendant to death, there is a series of questions that the jury must answer in the affirmative," he said, noting one of those questions is if there is a probability if the accused would be a threat to society.
"How could a jury find in the affirmative that a person could be a continuing threat to society if they at the same time have the option of sentencing that person to life without parole?" asked Ogden. He suggested the result might be a questioning in court of the constitutionality of the death penalty statute.
Lucio said if that were true, he would have expected to hear more testimony regarding that issue in committee, which did not occur.
Ogden said he still is concerned that "we're giving our juries a false choice." The reality is, he said, "that can change just as easily as any other law in this state," every two years when the legislature meets.