46 Pro Death Penalty Quotes by Attorney Generals from the U.S.A

“To me, capital punishment is a form of societal self-defense. It should not be employed indiscriminately, but in cases of the most heinous crimes, the death penalty may be the only appropriate punishment. Some people believe it is right to take a life to save the life of someone else, but they would not vote to take the life of a convicted criminal, no matter how horrible the crime. Others believe that killing another person for any reason is simply wrong. I respect those opinions, but I disagree with them. I'm convinced that government has a duty to promote community defense. The death penalty, when applied in appropriate cases, can be a strong deterrent to crime. It is certainly a deterrent to the convicted criminal sentenced to death, and it is also a deterrent to other potential capital offenders.”

“Our system of criminal law is to minimize human suffering by works or order primarily to forestall violence or aggression. In the question of the death penalty, we must ask ourselves which action will serve the true humanitarian purpose of criminal law.  We should weigh the death of the convicted murders against the loss of life of his victims and the possibility of potential victims to murder.”

Are some crimes so vile and so heinous that execution is the only appropriate penalty to be imposed on the perpetrator? That should be the central issue in the debate about the death penalty. [Posted 29 October 2002 6:44 PM Some crimes call for death By Jerry Kilgore for USA TODAY]

Unfortunately, the opponents of capital punishment do not address this question, but instead cast doubts on its application. But attacks on the process are not arguments that address the merits of whether the death penalty is a legitimate form of punishment. [Posted 29 October 2002 6:44 PM Some crimes call for death By Jerry Kilgore for USA TODAY]

As a former prosecutor, former secretary of public safety and now attorney general, I believe that some crimes are so evil, some criminals so dangerous and some victims so tortured that executing the criminal is appropriate. [Posted 29 October 2002 6:44 PM Some crimes call for death By Jerry Kilgore for USA TODAY]

The coldblooded killing and wounding of more than a dozen people in Virginia, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Alabama and Washington state is an example that there are some people who have no regard for human life. The wife who has lost her husband, the children who have lost their father, the person who survived but will have a long recovery — all of these are victims whom death-penalty opponents seem to forget about. Justice requires that those who do such evil acts be punished. As a civilized society, we must stand up for those whose lives were cut short, whose children and spouses were left behind and whose lives have been decimated. [Posted 29 October 2002 6:44 PM Some crimes call for death By Jerry Kilgore for USA TODAY] 

But capital punishment is not just about retribution; it can be a deterrent. And to those who say that life without parole is enough, we have seen the inmates who attack and kill other inmates, inmates who attack prison guards, and inmates who escape and continue their rampages of killing. These purveyors of terror have lost their right to live. [Posted 29 October 2002 6:44 PM Some crimes call for death By Jerry Kilgore for USA TODAY] 

Opponents of the death penalty need to be honest about their arguments. If they oppose the death penalty, they should do so head-on, not by casting doubts on its application. Supporters of the death penalty agree that only the guilty should be executed. In Virginia, the people have engaged in this debate and firmly support the death penalty as an appropriate punishment for the most evil of crimes. [Posted 29 October 2002 6:44 PM Some crimes call for death By Jerry Kilgore for USA TODAY]

"In Alabama this would be a capital case, and if we don't get justice in Australia we're going to pursue the death penalty here," Mr King told US television recently. He said the case had sullied Australia's image.

"It sends all the wrong signals," Mr King said. "It sends the signal that you can kill and walk away and not face the kind of justice that you ought to pay for those kinds of acts."

“I believe that the death penalty is the ultimate deterrent to violent crime…period.”

 “I stood up to the liberal elite when they came to our state (Alabama) and tried to eliminate the death penalty, we won, they lost.”

 “I’m using the death penalty to keep Alabama family safe from the most violent criminals, why? It’s because it works. Recent studies have said that every time an execution is carried out in the United States, up to 75 murders are prevented the next year.”

3 June 2011 - "Every so often death row inmates they are going to come up with new issues, such as this bump on the head issue," said Hood. "I anticipate their being more excuses. Justice will be carried out for those people who have had family members killed."

Wednesday 25 January 2012 - Attorney General Jack Conway said he appreciates lawmakers being willing to form a task force and hoped any such panel would include a commonwealth's attorney. But he disagrees with halting executions, he said.

"Although I welcome continued review of the ABA's findings, I do not believe it merits a suspension of the death penalty, which disregards trial verdicts, years of judicial review and the families of crime victims seeking justice for their loved ones," he said in a statement.

18 June 2010 - Gardner, meanwhile, slept and waited alone until he was escorted 90 feet down a hallway and around a corner to the prison's execution chamber just before midnight. At 12 a.m., Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff spoke with prison officials by telephone and told them there was no legal reason not to go through with the execution.

Families of Gardner's victims and others waited at the Utah State Capitol. The nervous sounds of tapping feet or whispered conversations were all that remained as a small crowd waited for the attorney general to re-emerge. "Ronnie Lee Gardner will never kill again. He will never assault anyone again," Shurtleff said to a silenced audience. Gardner was pronounced dead at 12:20 and 25 seconds. "Now Ronnie Lee Gardner will be held accountable to a higher power, and I pray he will find more mercy than he showed his victims," Shurtleff said.

"The date for Stokley's sentence to be carried out has not been set, but I am hopeful that this killer will be brought to justice without excessive delay from the federal system. The families of the victims deserve to see justice in a timely manner," Horne stated in the statement on Monday 26 September 2011. [Referring to the death sentence of Richard Dale Stokley]

A U.S. District Court judge ruled Wednesday 21December 2011 that even if the Arizona Department of Corrections varied from its court-approved protocol for execution by lethal injection, there was no violation of prisoners' constitutional rights.

And even if the drugs used in two of the last five executions in Florence were obtained unlawfully, the Corrections Department did not do so intentionally and knowingly, the judge wrote in his decision.

Judge Neil Wake ruled in favor of the state, denying an injunction requiring the DOC to conform to its established protocol.

"This ruling puts to rest yet another of the specious legal barricades that capital-punishment opponents have thrown up in the past few decades to challenge the death penalty," Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne said in a prepared statement.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli issued a statement, which said in part, "The just sentence of death has now been carried out. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the family and friends of Ruth Phillips." [Jerry Terrell Jackson was executed by lethal injection in Virginia on 18 August 2011 for the murder of Ruth Philips on 26 August 2001]

CASE: The murder Valle was convicted for was related in the court case history as follows: On April 2, 1978, Officer Louis Pena of the Coral Gables Police Department was on patrol when he stopped Valle and a companion for a traffic violation. The events that followed were witnessed by Officer Gary Spell, also of the Coral Gables Police Department. Officer Spell testified that when he arrived at the scene, Valle was sitting in the patrol car with Officer Pena. Shortly thereafter, Spell heard Pena use his radio to run a license check on the car Valle was driving. According to Spell, Valle then walked back to his car and reached into it, approached Officer Pena and fired a single shot at him, which resulted in his death. Valle also fired two shots at Spell and then fled. He was picked up two days later in Deerfield Beach. Following his jury trial, Valle was found guilty of the first-degree murder of Pena. He was also found guilty of the attempted first-degree murder of Spell and after a non-jury trial, he was found guilty of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.

“Today’s ruling reaffirms that the protocols and procedures used by the state of Florida in lethal injections are constitutional,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “With the stay lifted, justice for this cold-blooded killer who gunned down a police officer can now be served.”

"It is my position that justice has been served in this case to protect not only the public from future escapes and harm, as well as, the penitentiary community from the further actions of Eric Robert," Jackley said. [Thursday 27 October 2011 – Eric Roberts was sentenced to death for the murder of South Dakota correctional officer Ron Johnson during a foiled prison escape on 12 April 2011]

Thursday 2 February 2012 - Larson fears if Berget is sentenced to die, other inmates will get the wrong message.

"Do you want to send the message that this is a way of shortening a sentence for people who feel a life sentence is intolerable," Larson said.

Attorney General Marty Jackley says death is the only sentence that should be considered because of Berget's violent past and his history of escaping.

"Make no mistake about it.  This case is not about ending a life sentence through the death penalty process; this case was to end two life sentences by an escape, a selfish act," Jackley said.

And Jackley says a third life sentence for Berget will not protect the public.

"The evidence in this case leads to the inescapable conclusion that defendant Berget's extreme violent actions and his intensive escape history can be ended only with the imposition of death," Jackley said.

The court also heard closing statements from the prosecution and the defense. As the defense asks the judge for what would be Berget's third life sentence, the state asks for Berget to be put to death.

"I think that there is a time and a place for the death penalty and it needs to be reserved for very limited situations; but this is one of those situations that I believe that it would be appropriate,” said South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley.

Jackley, who prosecuted the case, said after the hearing that Berget's extensive escape history and violent behavior made death the only appropriate sentence for Johnson’s brutal murder.

“Rodney Berget has led a life of pain and destruction that includes a criminal history of 10 felony convictions,” Jackley said as he stood outside the courtroom with members of Johnson's family, holding the hand of widow Lynette Johnson. “There can really be no conclusion but a proper sentence of death.” [Rodney Berget of Sioux Falls, pleaded guilty to murder of Correctional Officer Ronald “R.J.” Johnson last year and sentenced to death Monday 6 February 2012]

A South Dakota House committee endorsed a plan Wednesday 15 February 2012 aimed at preventing death-row inmates from filing repeated appeals in an effort to delay their executions.

Although the limits would apply to all serious criminal cases, Attorney General Marty Jackley said the limits are especially needed in death penalty cases. Two men convicted and sentenced to death two decades ago have avoided execution because their appeals are still proceeding through the courts, he said.

Murder victims' families should not have to wait 20 years to see a death sentence carried out, Jackley said.

"It doesn't end," Jackley said. "It's time to give a fair resolution, but a timely resolution for victims."

People convicted of crimes in South Dakota can appeal their convictions to the state Supreme Court.

Under the bill, convicts who lose a first direct appeal usually could file only one secondary appeal. State law currently puts no limit on those secondary appeals, called habeus corpus petitions. Those petitions generally argue that a convict's constitutional rights were violated, and they often contend the person's previous lawyers made mistakes.

The bill would limit convicts to one secondary appeal, unless new evidence is discovered or an appeals court recognizes a new constitutional right that would apply to the case. Those secondary appeals also would have to be filed within two years of when the first direct appeal was decided or new evidence was discovered.

"At some point, there needs to be finality. I would suggest this would give it fair and reasonable finality," Jackley said.

The bill would apply to all people convicted of serious crimes, but South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley says the limits are particularly needed in cases where murderers have been sentenced to death.

Jackley also noted that Donald Moeller was sentenced to death for the 1990 rape and killing of 9-year-old Becky O'Connell of Sioux Falls, but Moeller's appeals continue.

"There has been no justice for the death of that 9-year-old girl," Jackley said.

Attorney General Marty Jackley said his office expected the ruling and is focused on submitting written briefs arguing that the death penalty is proper in the case.

"The focus remains on the merits of the appeal, showing there is that necessary aggravating factor and this is an appropriate sentence under all the facts and circumstances," Jackley said. [The South Dakota Supreme Court on Thursday 12 April 2012 denied a convicted murderer's request for a quick execution in the slaying of a prison guard, ruling that the high court must first complete its mandatory review of the sentence, a process that can take up to two years.]

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning praised the judge's decision.

"John Lotter murdered three innocent people and should face the consequences of his crimes," he said in a statement. "Today's decision is the next step toward justice."

"It is important as a state that we provide justice for victims' families and honor the decisions of our peers who serve the state's courts and citizens as jurors," he said. "Capital punishment is an option in Oklahoma for criminals who commit the most heinous acts against our residents, communities and children and in many cases are repeat offenders. We have a statutory and moral obligation to ensure the punishment is carried out." [Tuesday 3 January 2012]  

Sunday 30 December 2012 - Already sentenced to life in prison by the time they went to trial for the murders of Fields' son and would-be daughter-in-law, the killers would have faced no additional penalty had capital punishment been repealed, Attorney General John Suthers pointed out.

"For killing the witness in your case, you're going to get no more serious consequence than if they'd testified against you?" Suthers asked. "Life imprisonment is not an adequate societal response."

Attorney General Steve Six praised the Senate for upholding the current law, which he said is responsibly and narrowly written. "Families of victims, prosecutors and law enforcement officers understand how important this statute is to our criminal justice system," Six said. "Some crimes are just too heinous and cruel to receive a lesser sentence." when debating the death penalty in Kansas on 18 February 2010.

Backed by the loved ones of murder victims, Kansas Attorney General Steve Six urged state lawmakers Thursday to vote down an effort to repeal the state’s death penalty. “The Kansas death penalty applies to only the most cruel, horrendous crimes,” Six said. “This is something the great majority of Kansans support for these horrendous crimes.”

He said killers sentenced to life are just as likely to file appeals. Besides, he said, “you can’t put a price on justice in these cases.”

Killers such as the Carr brothers, Six said, “have forfeited the right to live among us.”

Lisa Madigan to Quinn: `it is appropriate that a sentence of death be available' (January 27, 2011)
I continue to believe that the death penalty is an appropriate and just punishment when a defendant commits multiple murders or murders a victim in a particularly heinous manner or circumstances.

Lisa Madigan to Quinn: `it is appropriate that a sentence of death be available' (January 27, 2011)
As prosecutors, we are charged with seeking justice on behalf of the People of Illinois. In each and every murder case that we have handled, we have done just that. When the facts and the law have led to the conclusion that a defendant should not be retried or a decision appealed, I have reached that conclusion and allowed defendants to be released from prison. However, when the facts and the law establish that a defendant has committed a heinous murder or murders, we must seek a just punishment that fits the despicable nature of the crimes. In those cases, it is appropriate that a sentence of death be available for the judge and jury to consider.

I urge you to veto Senate Bill 3539.