A bill that would have allowed the state of Montana to resume executions via lethal injection was voted down in the Senate on Thursday afternoon.
House Bill 244 brought by Rep. Dennis Lenz, R-Billings, proposed revising Montana’s death penalty law in an effort to comply with a 2015 district court ruling. That ruling halted the use of one drug the state used for executions.
In 2015, Lewis and Clark County District Court Judge Jeffrey Sherlock ruled that pentobarbital, a drug used by the state in its lethal injection cocktail, did not meet the definition of "ultra-fast" identified in law because it takes several minutes to work.
HB 244 proposed revising state law to remove mention of a specific drug, replacing it with a fast-acting substance “sufficient to cause death.” The legislation was endorsed by Republican Attorney General Austin Knudsen, who told lawmakers the change would fix the legal issue identified by the court with language similar to that of legally tested laws in Texas and Florida.
Sen. Carl Glimm, R-Kila, carried the bill onto the Senate floor Thursday. The bill was about a technical change to allow some flexibility for the Montana Department of Corrections to decide the appropriate drugs to use for executions, he said.
“I’m sure we could have a vigorous debate about the death penalty, but that’s not what this is about,” he told the Senate.
Sen. Diane Sands, D-Missoula, said the bill was not about a technicality, but how the Legislature will decide to authorize the execution of a human being. She further referenced expert testimony from HB 244’s committee hearing, which included concerns certain drugs used nationally in executions have been linked to severe pulmonary edema, which produces sensations of drowning and panic.
“The issue is whether we as the Legislature will authorize that form of death on our behalf to be done in the state of Montana,” Sands said.
Sen. Brad Molnar, R-Laurel, also opposed the bill, detailing his history with the issue as a lawmaker. Citing those who have been wrongfully convicted, and concerns that people could continue to be executed for crimes they did not commit, he detailed his opposition vote.
“When you separate body and soul, there is no monetary settlement,” he said, in reference to a bill to compensate the wrongfully convicted.
Republicans Sen. Teresa Manzella of Hamilton and Keith Regier of Kalispell spoke in favor of HB 244. Manzella said she had grappled with the issue but had ultimately “came down on the side of protecting innocent life” by supporting the death penalty. Regier questioned why if drugs could be prescribed for doctor-assisted suicide why there has been such a national issue with the use of drugs in lethal injections.
Glimm reiterated that the bill was not about the death penalty itself.
“The state of Montana has the death penalty, it just doesn’t have a way of carrying it out,” he said. “We need to make the law work.”
HB 244 failed on a vote of 24-26, with 7 Republicans and 19 Democrats voting against the measure. It previously passed the House on a vote of 56-42.
Montana’s last execution was carried out in 1996, when the state put to death David Thomas Dawson for a 1986 triple homicide in Billings.
Montana currently has 2 inmates on death row.
A bill to repeal Montana’s death penalty was introduced this session by Rep. Ed Stafman, D-Bozeman, but was tabled in committee.
Source: helenar.com, Staff, April 16, 2021
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