Despite bishops' urging, Virginia legislators expand death penalty

Published: 2007-04-05

RICHMOND, Va. (CNS) -- Despite a warning by Virginia's Catholic bishops that the state's death penalty has spiraled "out of control," legislators voted overwhelmingly April 4 to override a gubernatorial veto and make it a capital crime to murder a judge or a subpoenaed witness. The legislators narrowly failed, however, to override Gov. Timothy M. Kaine's veto of legislation that would make it a capital offense to direct a killing even if one does not personally participate in the murder. The House of Delegates voted 79-21 to override the veto, but the 40-member Senate voted for it 25-14, two votes short of the two-thirds needed for a veto override. "No matter how heinous the crime, if society can protect itself without ending a human life, it should do so," said Bishops Francis X. DiLorenzo of Richmond and Paul S. Loverde of Arlington in a joint statement April 3. "Even as states across our nation exhibit growing unease, restraint and moratoria on the use of capital punishment -- 10 of 38 states in which it is lawful have suspended it -- Virginians and their elected officials continue to apply the accelerator to a system of punishment that kills to teach that killing is wrong," the bishops said.

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