About the coalition
In the summer of 2000, the Coalition sponsored a symposium on the death penalty.
During legislative sessions thereafter, the Coalition has continued to sponsor legislation to limit or abolish the death penalty - spurring debate among our state leaders.
In the summer of 2006, the Coalition (with the aid of the Montanan Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the National ACLU) launched a legal challenge of the lethal injection protocol before the David Dawson execution. However the litigation failed when Dawson waived his right for further appeals and asked that the sentence be executed. Nevertheless, the Court indicated it had strong reservations about the lethal injection protocol in Montana which would be reviewed if the Coalition again has standing.
In the 2007 legislative session, victims' families, attorneys, a former warden, former prosecutors, a current assistant Attorney General, current lawmakers, and a former Montana Supreme Court Justice asked the legislative body to abolish the death penalty. The Montana State Senate passed the legislation. It was sponsored by Senator Dan Harrington, President Pro Tempore (the most senior member of the Senate).
The Coalition sponsored a speaking tour by an exoneree, George White, who was tried in a capital case. George's story, like so many others, underscore the fallibility of any system undertaken by humans - the chances for human error. An innocent man, the charges against George were eventually dropped and he was released. But as horrible as his story is, the stories of those innocent people that have been executed - whose names we may never know - is infinitely worse.
Unfortunately, the 2007 legislation died in a House committee by the margin of one vote; but the Coalition will continue to keep the issue before the public because Montanans want common sense policies that hold criminals accountable, provide healing for victims, and are fiscally responsible. The death penalty is none of these - it is simply bad public policy that risks executing the innocent.
Today, the Coalition has expanded to include several more members such as Amnesty International, Journey of Hope, Murder Victims' Families for Human Rights, and the Montana Human Rights Network.
Take action NOW!
Senate Bill 236, an act to abolish Montana's death penalty and replace it with life without the possibility of parole, is in the legislature now.