The Virginia Senate upheld Gov. Tim Kaine’s vetoes of proposals to expand capital punishment on April 8. The Senate vote fell short of the two-thirds needed to override Gov. Kaine’s vetoes of the bills that would have extended capital punishment to murder accomplices who were not the actual killer and to those who kill on-duty fire marshals and auxiliary police officers. This marks the third consecutive year that Gov. Kaine has vetoed bills to expand capital punishment to accomplices. “Virginia, we execute enough people. We don’t need to expand it,” explained Kaine.

(D. Potter, “Va. Senate upholds governor’s death penalty vetoes,” The Examiner, April 8, 2009). See Recent Legislative Activity for other state actions, including Georgia’s expanded use of life without parole, Maryland’s restrictions on the death penalty, and many other proposed legislative changes.