Assembly Releases Death Penalty Report

Compilation Of Five Public Hearings Drawing Testimony From 170 Witnesses In Favor And Against State Law

Calling it one of the most comprehensive examinations of a statute in the history of the New York State Legislature, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, joined by Codes Committee Chair Joseph Lentol, Judiciary Committee Chair Helene Weinstein and Correction Committee Chair Jeffrion Aubry, today released a 58-page report highlighting testimony from 170 witnesses at five recent statewide hearings on New York's 1995 death penalty law.

The hearings were convened after last year's Court of Appeals decision in People v. LaValle essentially invalidated the death penalty in New York but left intact provisions of the law that authorize a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole (LWOP) to be imposed on any defendant convicted of first-degree murder. According to testimony received by the committees, under New York's death penalty statute, 148 people have been sentenced to LWOP in the 10 years since the law's enactment.

"When the Court of Appeals in essence struck down New York's death penalty law in LaValle," Silver said, "we in the Legislature faced an important choice: act quickly or act deliberately. We chose the latter option and conducted a series of extraordinary public hearings to solicit the widest possible range of views on the death penalty in New York before deciding what action, if any, to take with respect to the statute. The report issued today objectively presents the significant issues and controversies surrounding the death penalty presented at these hearings."

Lentol said the examination of the death penalty in New York undertaken jointly by the three committees brought into stark clarity the law's troubled history.

"We have spent more than $170 million administering the death penalty since 1995," Lentol said, "but not a single person has been executed during that time." He also noted that since the statute's inception, only seven persons had been sentenced to death and that the first four of these sentences to reach the Court of Appeals had been struck down on various grounds.

"These facts obviously cried out for a thorough examination of whether the death penalty should be re-enacted in New York," Lentol said.

Weinstein noted that much of the legal landscape surrounding the death penalty had changed during the last decade and particularly cited the large number of murder convictions, including death penalty cases, that had been struck down in recent years, sometimes because of newly analyzed DNA evidence.

"During our hearings, we heard testimony from a number of persons who had been wrongfully convicted of murder and, in some cases, placed on death row before being exonerated. The criminal justice system makes mistakes, but when the death penalty is applied, those mistakes can never be corrected," she said.

Aubry said the testimony of the many family members of murder victims was among the most compelling and heart wrenching he had ever heard.

"Persons who had suffered inconceivable loss opened their hearts and told us what they thought was the most appropriate way to bring the killers of their loved ones to justice," he said. "These courageous individuals presented varied views on capital punishment. We heard their stories and have presented their views in this landmark report."

Lentol said that although 148 of 170 witnesses who presented testimony at the hearings opposed the death penalty, the report presented a full examination of all of the important arguments regarding capital punishment that arose during the two months the hearings were conducted. He noted that among other subjects, the report presents a detailed discussion of race and the death penalty, religious views about capital punishment, the death penalty and mental illness and an examination of competing evidence about whether the death penalty does or does not deter murder.

Click here to view the report.