Tell Sen. Greg Ball “No” to his desire to reinstate the death penalty. He is pandering to sorrow-filled New Yorkers and a media wolfpack. From 1995-2004, not a single person convicted and sentenced under the death penalty statue was executed. Today, all former death row inmates remain imprisoned for the rest of their natural lives.
On his State Senate website, Sen. Ball writes:

In 2004, the New York Court of Appeals ruled (in the People v LaValle) that the procedure for imposing the death penalty was flawed. As a result, prosecutors have been unable to seek the death penalty when a law enforcement officer is murdered while performing his duties. Since the LaValle ruling, there have been 8 police officers in New York intentionally murdered, 7 of which have occurred after this legislation enacted a sentence of life without parole for those who kill law enforcement officers.

Months after joining the Assembly in March 2003, I joined with my colleagues in opposing any attempt to fix the “flaw” in the death penalty statute. I will forever proud of my role in the Majority Conference debate in letting the death penalty die in NYS.
Life without parole is a living hell for murderers. The wrongful execution by the State of an innocent person can never be undone and would be a living hell for all those involved.
Murder rates are unaffected by the absence or presence of a death penalty statute. Few murders are premediated and those who plan murders are not rational actors. They are sociopathic personalities who do not care a whit about the rules of our society. Others act out of a misplaced passion that suspends rational thinking about the consequences of their action.
During my time in the Assembly, I met several men who were imprisoned for crimes they did not commit. If prosecutors, law enforcement officials, judges and juries could convict innocent men of non-capital crimes, couldn’t they also convict innocent men of capital murder?
I share the grief and sorrow of NYPD Officer Peter Figoski‘s family and friends but the death penalty won’t resurrect him. Blood vengence neither serves his memory nor deter future assaults on police officers.
Sign my petition to Sen. Ball today. Click on this link Say No to Capital Punishment. Leave a comment below.