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In a statement released Wednesday afternoon, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown called off plans for a special session this month to amend the death penalty bill passed during the regular session.
Brown said she didn't have the votes to fix Senate Bill 1013, which limits when the death penalty can be applied. There was confusion after the legislative session when state lawyers reversed their earlier opinion and determined the bill could apply retroactively.
That opinion set off a flurry of finger-pointing and arguments about whether overturning death sentences had been the intention all along. Prosecutors wanted a special session to fix the bill, but defense attorneys—and the bill's chief sponsor, Rep. Jennifer Williamson (D-Portland)—didn't.
"While it is clear there is a misunderstanding regarding the intent of the words in Senate Bill 1013, it is also clear there is not sufficient support for a special session to pass a fix," Brown said in the statement. "When announcing my support for a special session, I said that it was conditional on stakeholders and legislators crafting bill language that had the votes to pass. That has not been achieved."
The statement appears to leave open the possibility of a future special session or later fixes.
"I cannot justify the additional cost and time a special session requires without that support, and I will not be calling the legislature into a special session this month before the law goes into effect," her statement continued.
Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger, Jr. (R-Grants Pass) was not pleased.
"The death penalty has not been voted on since 1984," he said in a statement. "The Democrats decided to ignore the voters, who should have had a say this controversial issue, and changed the law on the death penalty through SB 1013. They knowingly passed a bill that is retroactive, even though they said multiple times, on record, that it was not. The most tragic part of this is the bill takes effect on September 29 and will inflict even more pain on the victims' families who have already been horribly damaged and traumatized. Their horrific experiences will be public again as the worst criminals are given the chance of parole."