Three Republican lawmakers and pro-life advocates in Oklahoma on Wednesday called for a moratorium on the death penalty in the state at a time when the state has been speeding up the pace of executions.
“I believe four years ago most people in the House of Representatives believed that it was not possible to have someone innocent on death row,” state Rep. Kevin McDugle, one of GOP officials advocating for a moratorium on capital punishment, told Yahoo News. “With today’s justice system, it is very possible and we have no mechanism currently for someone who is innocent to be given another look.”
The speakers at Wednesday’s event cited the findings of a new survey commissioned by Oklahoma Conservatives Concerned About the Death Penalty to bolster their case for a moratorium.
In response, 78% percent of respondents said they supported a temporary pause, with 45.4% strongly supportive and 32.2% somewhat support of doing so. Eighteen percent said they opposed a pause, with 11.8% strongly opposed and 6% somewhat opposed. Just 4.6% of those surveyed said they were undecided on the question.
When asked “Would you strongly support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose, or strongly oppose replacing the death penalty with a sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole?” Fifty-one percent of those surveyed said they supported doing so, with 28.6% strongly supportive and 22% somewhat supportive of that idea. Forty-four percent said they were opposed to doing so, with 34.6% strongly opposed and 9.2% somewhat opposed.
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