Expanded Death Penalty on Ballot

Prop. 18 Would Allow Executions for Types of Kidnapping, Arson and Stalking

by Lynda Rael Jovanovska

 

Proposition 18 redefines the standards for the death penalty and life imprisonment in cases of first degree murder. Under "special circumstances" a defendant can qualify for the death penalty or life without the possibility of parole in first As described in the summary prepared by the attorney general, Prop. 18 would provide that a special circumstance exists for killings committed "by means of lying in wait" rather than "while lying in wait." "All Prop. 18 will do is to include more people under our death penalty laws so that politicians can have more executions," says Lance Lindsey, executive director of Death Penalty Focus, a group opposing capital punishment.

Proponents say the proposition would extend death penalty eligibility to people who:

Commit arson for the purpose of killing a person inside the building. Kidnap for a premeditated murder. "Lie in wait" for their victims, then seize and take them to a more secluded area to murder them.

District attorneys, some criminal victims groups, Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, and former Republican governors George Deukmejian and Pete Wilson support the measure.

"It defies reason to exclude such aggravated murders from our death penalty or life imprisonment law. Proposition 18 eliminates unequal treatment from court-imposed law," states the official ballot argument printed in favor of the measure.

Opponents include anti-death penalty groups, the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Friends Service Committee.

The proposition stems from a bill in the Legislature, which passed overwhelmingly but must be ratified by California voters because it amends a previous initiative on the death penalty.

Both sides of the measure are expecting it to pass.