STAFF REPORTS 

Sacramento – Assemblyman Curt Hagman (R-Chino Hills) expressed his disappointment and frustration with U.S. District Court Judge Cormac J. Carney’s ruling on Wed., July 16 declaring California’s death penalty unconstitutional because the lengthy and unpredictable delays violate the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

“I am not disputing the fact that California’s death penalty procedures are dysfunctional,” said Assemblyman Hagman. “It takes decades for a sentence to be carried out due to appeals, court orders, ever-changing regulations, and other red tape. The solution is not to abolish the death penalty all together but rather to fix these unnecessary and burdensome barriers. What about the families of the victims? They suffer cruel and unusual punishment waiting for justice to be served.”

Assemblyman Hagman added that California’s citizens continue to support the death penalty and the will of the people should not be silenced by one judge’s decision. In 2012, an attempt to eliminate capital punishment was rejected by voters.

A moratorium was put on the death penalty in 2006 by another district judge calling for changes to the current lethal injection procedures. These changes have yet to be approved.