Rhode Island Lawmaker Proposes Death Penalty Study

With a new death penalty proposal underway in Massachussettes, debates in Connecticut and the recent death penalty trial in Vermont, will Rhode Island follow suit?

PROVIDENCE - A local representative has proposed creating a legislative commission to study whether the state should institute the death penalty for heinous crimes.

Rep. Raymond E. Gallsion Jr., D-Bristol, who also represents part of Portsmouth, said Thursday that recent cases, including the recent shooting death of Providence police Detective James Allen, pormpted him to introduce the legislation.

Read the full Newport Daily News article.

"In certain circumstances, I support the death penalty," Gallison said, "Someone that takes another person's life intentionally and is proven guilty, they're not innocent and they shouldn't be living."

Rhode Island is one of 12 states, along with the District of Colunbia, that does not have a death penalty provision. The last execution in Rhode Island was in 1845 and that man was later found to be innocent of the crime for which he was convicted. In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the death pnelaty as unconstitutional. The court reversed itself in 1978.

Posted by beth at 03:21 PM