WV Senate bill reinstates death penalty in cases of intentionally killing police, first responders
A bill advancing in the Senate would reinstate the death penalty in West Virginia for individuals who are sentenced for intentionally killing a law-enforcement officer or first responder in the line of duty.
West Virginia's death penalty was eliminated in 1965, and bill sponsor Sen. Mike Stuart, R-Kanawha, says the narrow application of capital punishment would show the state's appreciation for law enforcement.
'Our first responders face extreme challenges in the field today,' Stuart said. 'Those folks who knowingly and intentionally place them in death and remove them from their families, their communities and their public service, [it] is the most heinous crime … We will not tolerate anyone harming these folks in the line of duty.'
According to Senate Bill 264, the execution of the inmate would have to occur in a correctional facility in West Virginia and could be carried out by any legally acceptable means, including lethal injection or firing squad.
Implementation of the measure would cost an estimated roughly $26 million since it could require a 75-bed execution chamber to be constructed and may result in the construction of a new building. The cost also includes necessary staff and lethal injection drugs.
The state's Division of Corrections and Rehabilitation, which estimated the cost, said the state 'could expect significant costs to train and equip the legal community to handle death penalty cases and appeals.'
Stuart pushed back on the estimated cost after committee legal counsel said that 21 incarcerated persons would have qualified for the death penalty since 1980 under the legislation. A 75-bed chamber wouldn't be necessary, Stuart argued.
The Senate Judiciary passed the measure, sending it to the Senate Finance Committee for consideration due to its potential cost.
Sen. Joey Garcia, D-Marion, was among senators who voted against the measure, saying he was 'shocked' to see it on the committee's agenda. He was the only lawmaker to publicly speak out against the measure ahead of the vote.
'[It] does not align with the values of the state of West Virginia and its people,' Garcia said. 'I have a fear that although it has been narrowly tailored … it's one of the worst things that could happen to those people who are serving, but I also have a fear that this is just the beginning.'
Stuart, who introduced similar legislation last year, cited the 2023 death of West Virginia State Police Sgt. Cory Maynard. Timothy Kennedy pleaded not guilty after being accused of ambushing Maynard after the trooper was responding to a call of shots fired near Matewan in Mingo County. Kennedy's trial is scheduled for later this year.
Elmer Brunner, convicted of killing two elderly women, was the last man in West Virginia to die by capital punishment in 1959.
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