A Democratic lawmaker from Pine Bluff remains optimistic that one day, the Arkansas Legislature will narrow the use of the death penalty.
Thursday was not that day.
The comments, by Rep. Vivian Flowers, came immediately after Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee voted down her proposal to end the use of capital punishment on people with serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Flowers' bill, House Bill 1494, was the subject of a special hearing in the committee Thursday morning.
The senator has made multiple attempts in recent legislative sessions with bills that would repeal or reduce the use of the death penalty. None have made it out of committee.
"I think that we might even see the day where it's repealed," Flowers said. "When people are not close to issues, it's easier to hear something else."
Republicans on the committee opposed HB1494 on a party-line vote, with many expressing concern that it would all but eliminate the death penalty.
Later Thursday, House Speaker Matthew Shepherd, R-El Dorado, a former chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, told a reporter he did not foresee the Legislature moving away from its historical stance in favor of the death penalty.
"I don't think I've seen a shift in how lawmakers view the death penalty," Shepherd said. "We understand that this is, in terms of state action and the laws we pass, this is right at the top in terms of seriousness."
Arkansas is one of 30 states that have the death penalty as part of the sentencing code. However, some of those states have had governors impose a moratorium on the practice, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
Arkansas has 30 men on Death Row at the state prison system's Varner Unit in Lincoln County. Flowers' bill was amended Thursday so that it would not apply retroactively to those prisoners.
Several prosecutors who spoke against HB1494 on Thursday said the clause would carry little weight.
"There is going to be an equal protection challenge filed" by Death Row inmates if HB1494 passes, said Benton County Prosecuting Attorney Nathan Smith.
Flowers, who was joined at the committee by criminal defense attorney Jeff Rosenzweig, a frequent attorney for Death Row inmates, said that of the 30 men on Death Row, she had identified five who may have fit her bill's definition for a "serious mental illness."
The bill's definition includes people who experience delusions, hallucinations, disorganized thinking, mania or "very significant disruptions of consciousness, memory and perception of the environment."
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the execution of the mentally disabled is unconstitutional. However, it has not said specifically what disorders may fall under that category.
A Section on 03/08/2019