St. Louis County Libertarians pass death penalty moratorium resolution

At its monthly meeting last night, the St. Louis County (Missouri) Libertarian Central Committee resolved as follows in support of the Moratorium Now! Campaign:

Resolution for Moratorium on Executions while the Death Penalty is Studied

Whether our group supports capital punishment or not, we recognize that the death penalty system is fallible and that mistakes can happen.

Therefore, we support a moratorium on executions while a study commission examines the death penalty to insure that:

1. Innocent people are not being wrongly convicted and sentenced to death;

2. Race, poverty, gender and victim profiles are not more important to the prosecutor's decision to seek death than the details of the crime;

3. Defendants in Missouri who receive a death sentence are receiving competent legal representation;

4. Death sentences are applied in a fair, consistent and just manner as the execution of a human being is an irreversible punishment;

5. Death sentences are not applied in a racist manner.

Be it resolved that the St. Louis County Libertarian Central Committee calls on the Governor of Misssouri and our Senators and Representatives in the General Assembly to take the necessary steps to impose a moratorium on executions and establish a study commmission to examine the current death penalty system. Based on the findings of the commission we endorse rules, policies and procedures which:

Eliminate the risks that innocent persons may be executed.

Ensure that death penalty cases are administered fairly and impartially in accordance with basic constitutional guarantees, such as the right to due process of law.

Guarantee competent legal representation to every capital defendant.