Tom Udall: “thank you for the recognition. As a former New Mexico attorney general and assistant U.S. attorney, I have worked hard…”

“thank you for the recognition. As a former New Mexico attorney general and assistant U.S. attorney, I have worked hard to prosecute violent crimes. I have been privileged to work with law enforcement, and we are all thankful for the tremendous work the Capitol Police do here in our Nation's Capital. The recent shootings of two sheriff's deputies in California was heinous. Our prayers go out to the officers and their families. The perpetrator must be brought to justice. But I do not support rushing through this bill in response to the California shootings. Under California law, murder of a law enforcement officer already makes someone eligible for the death penalty. This bill needlessly expands the Federal death penalty. As I understand this bill, for someone to be eligible for the death penalty, he or she would have to first be convicted of Federal murder, and then it would need to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the victim was killed or targeted because he or she was a law enforcement officer. I also want to point out that the death penalty itself has widespread issues and many instances of misapplication. DNA testing and other science have proven that innocent people have been executed. The Innocence Project has found that 21 of 375 individuals who were falsely convicted and exonerated by DNA testing since 1989 had served time on death row. The death penalty has also been applied in a racially discriminatory way.…”