Minnesota Committee Votes Down Death Penalty

Following two hours of tes­ti­mo­ny includ­ing rep­re­sen­ta­tives of crime vic­tims and death row exonerees, the Minnesota Senate Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee vot­ed 8 – 2 against rein­stat­ing the death penal­ty, con­tin­u­ing near­ly a cen­tu­ry with­out the sen­tence on the state’s books. The Committee’s vote like­ly blocks pas­sage of the death penal­ty bill this year. Don Streufert, whose daugh­ter was raped and mur­dered in 1991, was among those who tes­ti­fied against the bill. He not­ed, ​“No penal­ty or pun­ish­ment can replace our daugh­ter. We find no heal­ing or com­fort in the prospect of any murderer’s exe­cu­tion.” A poll released in February found that more Minnesotans oppose the rein­state­ment of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment than sup­port it. (Associated Press, March 24, 2004) See Victims. See Innocence.