Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber made a stunning announcement today: He's halting the execution of Gary Haugen. The two-time murderer was scheduled to die by lethal injection on December 6 at the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem. But Kitzhaber is using his executive power to keep Haugen alive, at least for now. The governor is not commuting Haugen's sentence. Instead, Kitzhaber says he's putting a temporary halt to executions for the remainder of his time as governor.
The decision marks a change in direction for Kitzhaber. The Democrat allowed two executions to proceed during his first two terms in office. In each case, like Haugen, the convicted killers had dropped their appeals. But Kitzhaber says he's concluded since then that Oregon's capital punishment system "fails to meet the basic standards of justice." The governor says he favors "replacing the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole." In a statement, the governor called upon the legislature to "bring potential reforms before the 2013 legislative session."
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I was proud of and inspired by the governor today. That's a tough choice to make to follow your conscience.
ReplyDeleteI only hope that the victims' families have somehow been able to move forward.