Seventeen Republican senators intend to press for a vote today on the death penalty, but is could never become law. Governor Tom Vilsack would reject any legislation that reinstates capitol punishment in Iowa. “I think if the legislature were interested in instituting a death sentence for more eggregious and more heinous offenses, I would be supportive of that — a death sentence being life in prison without parole,” Vilsack says. “You walk into prison and you do not come out alive. I favor the death sentence. I don’t favor the death penalty.” The 17 G-O-P senators propose a limited death penalty for those found guilty of kidnapping or raping a child and then killing that child. Vilsack says he’s not interested. “I think my attitude and record about the death penalty is fairly clear,” Vilsack says. “What I really think is this is not necessarily about protecting young people and children, it’s about politics.” Vilsack would support a life sentence for someone who is convicted a second time of committing a sex act with a child. That proposal is included in a wide-ranging bill that seeks to crack-down on sex offenders, a bill that could be considered in the full Senate sometime today.
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