Louisiana Legislature Considers Bipartisan Measure to Abolish Death Penalty

Three Louisiana legislators, all of them former law enforcement officials, have proposed legislation to abolish the state’s death penalty. Sen. Dan Claitor (R-Baton Rouge, pictured), a former New Orleans prosecutor who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, is the primary author of Senate Bill 142, which would eliminate the death penalty for offenses committed on or after August 1, 2017. The bill’s counterpart in the House of Representatives, House Bill 101, is sponsored by Rep. Terry Landry (D-Lafayette), a former state police superintendent, with support from Rep. Steven Pylant (R-Winnsboro), a former sheriff. Both bills would replace the death penalty with a sentence of life without parole. In urging repeal, Sen. Claitor said he was “well aware of the need to create an environment that is hostile to violent crime and criminals. Yet,” he said, “the death penalty has failed as deterrence to such horrendous criminal activity. Moreover, the death penalty is rarely utilized in Louisiana, and, when it is, the costs of appeals in these cases are extraordinarily burdensome to our law-abiding taxpayers.” Landry, who led the Louisiana State Police portion of the investigation that led to the murder conviction and death sentencing of Derrick Todd Lee, also expressed concerns about the cost and public safety value of the death penalty. “I’ve evolved to where I am today,” he said. “I think it may be a process that is past its time.” Louisiana’s last execution was in 2010, but the Department of Corrections estimates that housing death row inmates costs $1.52 million per year, and the Louisiana Public Defender Board spends about 28% of its annual budget on capital cases, totaling about $9.5 million last fiscal year. That cost has also contributed to Louisiana’s chronic underfunding of public defender services for non-capital cases across the state. The Catholic Church’s opposition to the death penalty is also a factor in the heavily Catholic state. Sen. Claitor said his Catholic faith brought about a change of heart on the issue, and Sen. Fred Mills (R-Parks), said a statement of support for repeal, expected to be released by the Louisiana Catholic bishops, “would weigh heavy on me and on the vast majority of my constituents.”

(D. Hasselle, “Louisiana Legislature to consider banning the death penalty in this year’s session,” Gambit, April 6, 2017; J. O’Donoghue, “Death penalty ban to be considered by Louisiana Legislature,” The Times-Picayune, April 6, 2017; K. Stickney, “Faith factors into death penalty bill,” The Advertiser, April 7, 2017.) See Recent Legislative Activity and New Voices.