Former Kansas Republican state sen­a­tor Tim Emert recent­ly urged mem­bers of the Kansas Senate Judiciary Committee to enact a mora­to­ri­um on impos­ing the death sen­tence and exe­cut­ing those who have already been sen­tenced to die. Noting that cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment was his most trou­bling issue when he was a mem­ber of the Kansas leg­is­la­ture, Emert stat­ed, ​“I came to the con­clu­sion the only vote I could live with was a ​‘no’ vote on the death penal­ty in Kansas. I could not, in my mind, be pro-life and pro death penal­ty.” Emert’s tes­ti­mo­ny before mem­bers of the Judiciary Committee took place dur­ing a hear­ing on pro­posed leg­is­la­tion that would halt exe­cu­tions in the state for two years so that the death penal­ty could be reviewed. The review would be con­duct­ed by a sev­en-mem­ber com­mis­sion, and would focus on, among oth­er con­cerns, the cost of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in Kansas and how death penal­ty cas­es are han­dled in dif­fer­ent parts of the state. (Associated Press, January 22, 2004) See New Voices.

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