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April 29, 2005
Nevada in line to abolish death penalty to minors
By BRENDAN RILEY Judiciary members sent AB6, approved by the state Assembly last month, to the Senate floor for final legislative action. Judiciary Chairman Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, said he's certain that the bill will move from there to the governor's desk despite the lack of a committee recommendation. Amodei also said he didn't think any Judiciary debate was needed since the change in Nevada law is mandated by the nation's highest court. Once the bill comes up for a Senate vote, he added, "it will allow Senate members to proselytize, editorialize, comment and any other sort of 'ize' they feel is appropriate before we pass the bill on the floor." Nevada was one of 19 states that allowed prosecutors to seek the death penalty for juveniles when the Supreme Court ruling was issued on March 1. In holding such executions to be cruel and unusual punishment, the court spared the lives of 72 death row inmates across the country, including Michael Domingues in Nevada. Domingues, who had been sentenced to die for a double murder in Las Vegas, is one of just three juvenile offenders ever placed on Nevada's death row. The state's last execution of a juvenile offender was in 1949. Assemblywoman Chris Giunchigliani, D-Las Vegas, authored AB6. She said that recent scientific evidence has proven that juveniles don't have the same capacity as adults to understand consequences, learn from mistakes and control impulses, and shouldn't be held to the same standard of culpability. Writing for the majority, Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said the "stark reality" that can't be ignored is that the United States has stood almost alone in the world in officially sanctioning juvenile executions. Juvenile offenders have been put to death in recent years in only a few other countries, including Iran, Pakistan, China and Saudi Arabia. |
