In Considered Reason

It's legislative season, and there is exciting news around the country this week as repeal bills advance in New Mexico and Montana and get hearings in Washington state and New Hampshire.

The National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty blog has photos and comments from the New Mexico hearings.

From Tuesday's hearing in New Hampshire came this story in the Keene Sentinel with a powerful reference to a victim's family member's expression of opposition to the death penalty:

Kirk Simoneau, a Franklin Pierce Law Center student, shared another personal experience that left some in the audience in tears. Simoneau said he was standing just feet away when a drunken driver hit and killed his father.

“If I could have, in the moments after my father’s death, killed the woman who caused my father’s death, I would have,” he said. “And that’s why I stand opposed, because in considered reason, in tempered thought, we do the right thing. In sudden emotion, we do the wrong thing.”