The Iowa Senate Judiciary Committee has narrowly advanced a bill that would reinstate the death penalty for people convicted of kidnapping, raping and murdering a child in Iowa.
Senator Jake Chapman, a Republican from Adel, says polls show Iowans support the death penalty in these cases.
OC………what we’re discussing.” :09
The passed on an 8-7 vote Thursday with two Republicans joining the committee’s five Democrats to oppose the bill.
Senator Jason Schultz, a Republican from Schleswig, says the death penalty is about justice for victims.
OC…..his own decisions.” :07
Senator Kevin Kinney, a Democrat from Oxford, is a former Johnson County Deputy.
He investigated the 2005 kidnapping, rape and murder of 10-year-old Jetseta Gage of Cedar Rapids — and Kinney says he’s visited the cell of Roger Bentley, the girl’s killer who was sentenced to life in prison.
OC……….of his life.” :10
The Senate’s Republican leader has not indicated whether the bill will be scheduled for debate.
The bill has 20 Republican co-sponsors, but 26 “yes” votes are required to pass bills in the senate.
Iowa abolished the death penalty in 1965.
Radio Iowa
