[RickM]

I am not happy to say the least.....and I detest Corzine.

If anything the rate of executions should have been accelerated.

"Death row disappears as Corzine signs bill
8 condemned men to live rest of natural lives in jail
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
BY DEBORAH HOWLETT
Star-Ledger Staff

Gov. Jon Corzine signed historic legislation abolishing the state's death penalty yesterday, clearing death row at New Jersey State Prison and providing an epitaph for what he called "state-endorsed killing" in the pursuit of justice.

"Today New Jersey is truly evolving," Corzine told about 200 people packed into his outer office in the Statehouse for the bill-signing ceremony. "Society must determine if its endorsement of violence begets violence and undermines the sanctity of life. ... I answer yes, and therefore I believe we must evolve to ending that endorsement."


The night before, Corzine said, he had signed an order commuting the sentences of all eight men on death row. The order provided "legal certainty" that the convicted murderers will never be paroled, Corzine said. "They will spend the rest of their lives in jail."

New Jersey became the first state to repeal its capital punishment law since the U.S. Supreme Court, which had struck down the death penalty in 1972, allowed its reinstatement in 1976.

The move was hailed by death penalty foes nationally and internationally. Sister Helen Prejean, a leading opponent of capital punishment and author of "Dead Man Walking," came to Trenton to witness the signing.

"There's no place on Earth I would rather be," Prejean said. "The word will travel around the globe that there is a state in the United States of America that was the first to show that life is stronger than death, love is greater than hatred and that compassion is stronger than the need for revenge."

Since an execution in Texas on Sept. 25, none have been carried out in the United States while the nation's highest court considers whether lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment.

New Jersey hasn't carried out an execution since lawmakers voted to reinstate the death penalty in 1982. The last execution in the state was in 1963.

The bill Corzine signed had been fast-tracked through the Democrat-controlled Legislature in its year-end "lame duck" session following November's elections. In the past two weeks, the measure was heard in committee and passed both houses following impassioned floor debates.

Corzine said the quick action simply ended a "protracted moral and practical debate" over capital punishment that has been going on for years. The issue was given a lengthy examination by a blue-ribbon panel appointed by the governor. The panel recommended earlier this year that the death penalty be abolished.

Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Union), who sponsored the bill, was among the legislators who voted 25 years ago to reinstate the death penalty. Lesniak said he was glad for the chance to "correct my mistake."

"It's not often we vote our consciences in the Legislature," Lesniak said. "We should do it more often."


While Democrats pushed the bill, it mustered a bare majority in the Senate, and only because four Republicans voted with them. Among those voting to repeal was Sen. Robert Martin (R-Morris), who will retire in three weeks.

Martin said he had despaired of ever being able to cast a vote against the death penalty.

"This was an epic battle. I frankly though it was Mission Impossible," he said. "There are certain things -- persistence, patience, good will and perhaps faith -- which will overcome many mountains. ... It's remarkable that this day has arrived. Hallelujah!"

Opponents of the measure saw no reason to rejoice.

"Sparing the lives of brutal murderers only a week before Christmas will leave a hole in the hearts of surviving family members that will never heal," Assembly Republican Leader Alex DeCroce (R-Morris) said. "The governor's action is not a cause for celebration."

Among those who lobbied against the bill was Richard Kanka, whose 7-year-old daughter, Megan, was raped and murdered by Jesse Timmendequas, one of the eight death row inmates whose sentence was commuted. The case prompted the Legislature to enact the nation's first Megan's Law, which requires sex offenders to publicly register their addresses.

"Just another slap in the face to the victims," Kanka said of the bill.

Before signing the bill, Corzine said his opposition to capital punishment was deeply personal and long-held.

"My belief was moral in my heart and my soul; that's why I feel the way I do," Corzine said. "I believe a nonviolent sentence of life in prison without parole best captures our state's highest values and reflects our best effort to search for true justice rather than state-endorsed killing."

Thirty-six states still have the death penalty, and more than 3,300 inmates are on death row, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Since the death penalty was reinstated 31 years ago, 1,099 people have been executed. "