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Senate fails to override triggerman rule
The state Senate on Wednesday failed to override the governor's veto of the triggerman rule.
Current law states that only the person who actually commits a murder can be sentenced to the death penalty; accomplices who are equally involved cannot be executed. Earlier in the session, the General Assembly passed a bill overturning that rule but Gov. Tim Kaine vetoed it.
After a lengthy debate, the state Senate voted Wednesday to uphold Kaine's veto.
Pro-death penalty senators argued vociferously that the triggerman exemption is unfair.
“It is a loophole that benefits child killers, cop killers, rape killers, mass murders and others,” said Harrisonburg Sen. Mark Obenshain (R), adding that the people who are not sentenced to death are murderers who would have been executed “but for the fact that they were intelligent enough to have someone else pull the trigger.”
But Henrico Sen. Don McEachin (D) argued that expanding the death penalty could allow accomplices to be executed for talking or thinking about committing murder.
“You are talking about killing someone for their thoughts. I think that is wrong,” he said.
A majority of the senators – 24 -- voted to override the veto but that number was short of the two-thirds (27 votes) needed.
Earlier in the day, the House of Delegates did override the veto, 69-30. However, both houses must vote to override and since the Senate didn't come up with the necessary two-thirds, the veto will stand.
The Senate also voted to uphold the governor's veto of a bill regarding guns in restaurants. The General Assembly had passed a bill that would allow people with concealed weapons permits to carry guns into restaurants that serve alcohol. Kaine vetoed that bill and on Wednesday, Senate Republicans failed to come up with the 27 votes they needed to override.
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