House panel takes up the death penalty.

Waiting three years for a committee to hear her bill to abolish the death penalty, Rep. Michelle Rehwinkel Vasilinda, D-Tallahassee, finally got that chance at the House Criminal Justice Subcommittee.

Part of her argument is that "civilized nations" have abolished the death penalty, and the lawyer and college professor listed 10 countries where the death penalty is no longer used: Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

She then listed the 10 countries where the death penalty is permitted: Afghanistan, China, Cuba, Egypt, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Nigeria, Libya, and the United states After polite, but passionate ate, testimony pro and con from a public defender, a college criminology professor, a rabbi, a murder victim's mother all against the death penalty, and a state attorney, detailing gruesome facts of the most heinous murders, who said those killers deserve to die--HB 4005 failed 4-9 on February 7.

With that "threshold question" firmly answered, Chair Matt Gaetz, a Republican from Shalimar who practices civil law, made it clear that he hopes the United States continues to keep the death penalty, but wants to make Florida's capital punishment system more efficient.

The death penalty reform working group of three lawyers--Gaetz, Rep. James Grant, R-Tampa, and Rep. Dave Kerner, D-Palm Springs--came up with a range of ideas:

* Taking death penalty rulemaking authority away from the Florida Supreme Court.

* Penalizing trial judges who don't make a 90-day deadline on ruling on evidentiary hearings by losing a year of service in the Florida Retirement System, after hearing prior testimony from Assistant Attorney General Carolyn Snurkowski that it took one judge six years to rule.

* Reporting lawyers guilty of "ineffective assistance of counsel" to The Florida Bar for disciplinary action.

* Getting rid of private registry lawyers and expanding the proven expertise of Capital Collateral Review Representatives for the Northern District, as Florida has in the Middle and Southern districts.

As this News went to press, a finalized bill had not yet been filed.

While Rehwinkel Vasilinda argues that studies have shown the death penalty doesn't deter crime and its high cost would be better spent putting 450 more law enforcement officers on the street to keep citizens safer, Gaetz counters: "I'd rather fix the system than surrender to the murderers. Taxpayers should...