Nebraska's Unicameral has a bill to get rid of the death sentence.
They do this every year, and some years they get very close.
It's put forward by Sen. Ernie Chambers (who had some national attention when he declared that if he owned a gun and a police officer approached him he would shoot first and ask questions later - He also once sued God)
Nebraska passed a bill in 2000 which limited our representative to two terms in office (It was known as the Ernie Chambers bill) Everyone knew it was a deliberate bill to get him out of office. (I voted against it - if people want to vote someone into office, that's their right - even if I think he's a nut). He waited out the time limit and was elected again.
In case you don't know Nebraska is the only state whose legislation is a Unicameral - we only have one house and they don't run by their party affiliation - so you don't know if they're Republican or Democrat or Libertarian.
This bill would also re-sentence the current death row inmates, which includes:
Nikko Jenkins - who went on a killing spree and killed 4 people in 2013. (One of his murders happened 6 blocks west of my work on the same street during the time I was getting off work - Fortunately, I go East to get home).
Carey Dean Moore - who killed two taxi drivers in 1979. (I remember this so well, as my father was driving a taxi part time at night)
Michael Ryan - who killed James Thimm in 1985 - (he was white supremacist whose torture killing of Mr. Thimm is unbelievably horrible - and too gross to put on this board - if you want to know what happened, it is on the internet) He had also killed 5 year old Luke Stice - but is not on death row for that killing.
John Lotter - killed Teena Brandon, Lisa Lambert & Philip DeVine - in 1993 - (This is probably Nebraska's most famous murder - This is the crime that was made into the movie "Boys Don't Cry - Hilary Swank won an academy award for playing Teena Brandon).
David Dunster - killed his cellmate Larry Witt in 1997.
Raymond Mata - killed and dismembered 3 year old Adam Gomez in 1999.
Arthur Lee Gales - raped and murdered 13 year old Latara Chandler and then drowned her 7 year old brother Tramar.
Jorge Galindo, Jose Sandoval and Eric Vela - who robbed a bank in Norfolk and killed the 5 people inside the bank in 2002.
Jeffrey Hessler - who murdered newspaper carrier Heather Gerrero in 2003.
Roy Ellis - who killed 12 year old Amber Harris in 2005.
Marco Torres - who killed Timothy Donohue and Edward Hall in 2007.
I doubt if any of these people - killer or especially the victims will be brought up in the debate.
