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House Journal: Page 497: Wednesday, February 22, 1995

Absent or not voting, 4:
Brammer        	Greiner        	Nelson, L.       	Warnstadt     


Amendment H-3136 lost.
Moreland of Wapello offered the following amendment H-3146, to
the committee amendment H-3109, filed by him from the floor and
moved its adoption:
H-3146
 1     Amend the amendment, H-3109, to House File 2 as
 2   follows:
 3     1.  Page 3, by inserting after line 17 the
 4   following:
 5     "   .  The court shall also, upon the request of
 6   the defendant, in addition to any other determination,
 7   review whether the sentence of death is excessive or
 8   disproportionate to the penalty imposed in similar
 9   cases by virtue of the race of the defendant or the
10   victim of the crime for which the defendant was
11   convicted.  For purposes of this section:
12     a.  The universe of potentially similar cases
13   considered by the courts shall include all cases in
14   which an indictment was returned for the charge of
15   first degree murder on or after the effective date of
16   this Act, which did not result in the dismissal of the
17   indictment or a judgment of acquittal, and in which
18   one or more of the statutory factors enumerated in
19   section 902.12 is present.
20     b.  Cases similar to the case under review shall be
21   identified by assessing and comparing the overall
22   culpability of offenders' conduct as determined by the
23   presence or absence of aggravating or mitigating
24   factors in potentially similar cases, combined with
25   such other criteria as the court deems appropriate.
26     c.  The determination of whether the sentence is
27   excessive or disproportionate shall be based upon the
28   relative frequency with which death sentences are
29   imposed in similar cases."
30     2.  Page 3, by inserting after line 22 the
31   following:
32     "   .  The court may suspend consideration of death
33   penalty cases until such time as the court determines
34   that the court is prepared to perform the comparative
35   assessments required under this section.  The court
36   shall appoint one or more special administrative
37   assistants possessing appropriate expertise and
38   training to accumulate the case records and to compile
39   and provide such other information as the court deems
40   necessary for their review.
41        .  The briefs filed on the appeal by the state
42   and the defendant shall include written argument
43   regarding the propriety of the sentence that was

Iowa General Assembly

Index: House Journal (76th General Assembly: Session 1)

© 1995 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

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URL: /DOCS/GA/76GA/Session.1/HJournal/00400/00497.html
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