Before his retirement from the court, Judge Ronald Reagan had sentenced a defendant to death and kept his views on the death penalty to himself. However, as Nebraska is considering a bill to abolish capital punishment, he spoke in favor of its repeal. “I’m a citizen here. I’d just as soon not have a death penalty,” Judge Reagan testified. “It just seems to me that people are recognizing that the death penalty is not an appropriate punishment in a civilized society.” Calling capital punishment “state-sanctioned revenge,” Judge Reagan spoke of sentencing a man to death by the electric chair in 1984 despite his lifelong opposition to the death penalty “on philosophical grounds,” because judges are “supposed to apply the law that is given to us,” and “aren’t supposed to be political activists.” Reagan testified, “I always felt that I couldn’t say anything for 32 years,” and he believes other judges share his viewpoint but are barred from expressing or acting on their opinions while on the bench.

Judge Reagan, who retired in 2005 as a Sarpy County district judge, said he saw no general deterrent value to the death penalty and “It’s not going to lower the murder rate.” He also pointed out that he observed the death penalty applied unfairly. He said many murder cases that could result in capital punishment end in a plea bargain with the death sentence dropped. Judge Reagan shared that no one had asked him to testify at the hearing and he believed few people knew of his personal views on the matter before this testimony to lawmakers.

(P. Hammel, “Judge put execution views aside,” Omaha World-Herald, February 2, 2009). See New Voices.