Sheila Jackson Lee: “I think it is clear that we are all in support of the protection of our officers. I think that there is no competition…”

“I think it is clear that we are all in support of the protection of our officers. I think that there is no competition on sympathy or wanting to appropriately assure that those who go up against our officers in a vile and violent manner would be brought to justice. I think the point on race disparity as relates to the death penalty is relevant. It is about life. But I want to make it very clear: Under this underlying bill, our officers who are State police officers are protected already, including the example that I used about the MIT officer in the Boston Marathon terrorist act. It is if you are in the furtherance of a Federal crime. The bill itself is all Federal. You have to be engaged in an act that is a Federal crime. Clearly, if the terrorists on 9/11 had lived, the cases of the firefighters who lost their lives certainly would have been tried-- those cases of the tragic, heinous deaths of firefighters who are our friends, and certainly are my friends--under the Federal death penalty law. In the case of U.S. v. Kenneth Barrett, a State law enforcement officer was killed during a drug raid. That is one of the underlying offenses. The defendant was sentenced to death. In the case of Lashaun Casey, an undercover police officer was killed in a carjacking related to a drug transaction. A capital jury decided to sentence the defendant to life without the possibility of parole, but it was a capital jury. The SPEAKER pro tempore.…”