Despite efforts by some state leaders to quickly “fix” the state’s death penalty statue, opposition from many legislators halted attempts to pass a bill before the summer recess at the end of July. At a legislative conference on the issue, Assemblyman Jeffrion Aubry noted that “a lot of people who spoke were against it.” These sentiments prompted Majority Leader Paul Tokasz to announce that legislators were “going to take some time with it” before deciding how to address concerns raised by the court. The Court of Appeals struck down the law in June, saying its sentencing provisions were coercive. Legislators will reconvene in August. (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, July 22, 2004) Read DPIC’s summary of the New York ruling.