No more death penalty in Nebraska. Lawmakers in the very conservative Cornhusker state have just voted to override their Republican governor’s veto of their repeal of the death penalty.
Nebraska is one of the more conservative states in America, so it was surprising for some that its Republican controlled legislature last week voted to repeal the state’s death penalty. Republican Governor Pete Ricketts (image) made clear he would veto the bill, and he did.
Moments ago, Nebraska lawmakers overrode Governor Ricketts’ veto in a historic 30-19 vote.Â
“The vote makes Nebraska the first traditionally conservative state to eliminate the punishment since North Dakota in 1973,” the AP notes. “Nebraska joins 18 other states and the District of Columbia in banning the ultimate punishment.”
The state has ten prisoners on death row currently, and the law is not retroactive.
As The New Civil Rights Movement reported last week, 144 people sitting on death row have been exonerated since 1973. A 2014 study by Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences claimed that 1 in 25 of those sentenced to death is innocent.
Nebraska-based blog Aksarbent reported last week also that “the state hasn’t executed a prisoner since 1997,” but “GOP Attorney General Doug Peterson, a conspicuous Christian, recently purchased a stash of lethal injection drugs in order to resume executions.”
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