When Governor Corzine signs the bill, N.J. will be the first state in the land to repeal the death penalty legislatively. Nasty criminals face life without parole instead.
Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts and Assembly Speaker Pro-Tempore Wilfredo Caraballo are ready to do the right thing. The pair announced today -- at a press conference featuring Sister Helen Prejean, the anti-death penalty activist -- that they plan to push for a vote on a bill that would remove the death penalty from the statute books.
Roberts, in a press release, said the bipartisan bill sponsored by Caraballo (D-Essex) would go before the Assembly Judiciary Committee on Dec. 6 "so that it could be positioned for an Assembly floor vote on Dec. 13." The governor already is on record as supporting a repeal.
A similar measure, which also would commute the sentences of the eight men on death row to live in prison without parole -- has been approved by a Senate committee.
