From: rburgess@milton.u.washington.edu (Rick Burgess) Subject: New York Times story on New crime bill, as printed in Seattle PI... Date: 13 Jul 90 01:29:56 GMT Organization: University of Washington, Seattle ################################################################## Seattle Post-Intelligencer A Hearst Newspaper Thursday Morning, July 12, 1990 35 cents More crimes get death penalty in tough Senate bill --------------------------------- The New York Times --------------------------------- WASHINGTON - The Senate yesterday overwhelmingly approved a crime bill that includes a temporary ban on the sale and manufacture of certain semiautomatic assault weapons, increased federal assistance to law enforcement agencies and an expansion of the number of federal crimes for which the death penalty can be imposed. The Senate passed the crime bill after voting to include an amendment that would provide $162 million to combat fraud in the savings and loan industry. The total cost of the crime package would be about $2 billion a year. The measure, the Omnibus Crime Bill, passed by a vote of 94- 6, with four of the opponents voting against it because of their opposition to capital punishment. "This is the toughest, most comprehensive crime bill in our history," said Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., who was the measure's chief sponsor. The action by the Senate, which came after months of political wrangling and behind-the-scenes negotiations, shifts the crime issue to the House where a number of anti-crime measures are pending. Speaker Tom Foley of Washington has vowed that the House will consider these bills, either separately or as part of a crime package, before the next recess, which begins Aug. 6. The prospects for House passage of an anti-crime measure appear good. It is unclear, however, whether any gun control legislation will be approved. The Senate bill expanded to 34 from 23 the number of federal crimes that would warrant the death penalty. In addition to treason, espionage and the assassination of the president, the death sentence could also be imposed for kidnapping, the taking of a hostage, killing a foreign official and murdering for money. The bill would also limit, in most cases, death-row inmates sentenced under state law to one appeal of their sentence on consti- tutional grounds in federal courts, and it would add 2,500 federal law enforcement agents.[the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug En- forcement Administration and the Customs Service. -HB] A White House spokesman said President Bush supported the Senate bill, despite its three year ban on nine types of semiautomatic pistols, rifles and shot guns, a ban the president opposes. Spokesman Alixe Glen said the administration "has a couple ---------------------------------------- See CRIME, page A5 (Second column, front page) ---------------------------------------- Capital offenses ---------------------------------------- Offenses for which courts could impose death penalty under omnibus crime bill. * Treason * Espionage * Genocide * Kidnapping * Bank robbery * Hostage taking * Aircraft hijacking * Destruction of aircraft * Destruction of motor vehicle * Transportation of explosives with intent to kill * Arson of federal property * Arson of property in interstate commerce * Mailing of injurious articles * Assination of the president * Murder of member of Congress, Cabinet or Supreme Court * Murder of foreign official * Murder of federal official * Murder of family member of federal official * Murder of federal witness * Murder of nuclear regulatory inspector * Murder of Agriculture Department official * Murder of horse, meat, poultry or egg products inspectors * Murder in territorial jurisdiction of the U.S. * Murder for hire * Murder in aid of racketeering * Murder by prisoners serving life sentences in federal prisons * Unintentional killing by drug felon involving aggravated recklessness * Use of a firearm in violent crime or drug trafficking * Major crime by drug kingpin, that is anyone with three felony convictions who leads an organization with gross earnings more than $10 million a year and has been charged in crime involving at least 300 times amount of narcotics seized in a typical crime * Attempted homicide by drug kingpin while seeking to obstruct justice ---------------------------------- Crime: Gun control backers like Senate bill From Page 1 ----------------------------------- of problems" with a House version that would permanently bar the sale, manufacturer or possession of a larger number of semiautomatic weapons and impose a seven-day waiting period for an individual who tried to buy a firearm. The bill passed yesterday by the Senate had been stalled since May 23 when gun control opponents fell one vote short of defeating the amendment by Sen. Dennis DeConcini, D-Ariz., that imposed the ban on some semiautomatic weapons. While the weapons provision was the most divisive, in the end, four of the senators who voted against the bill did so because they oppose capital punishment. They were Sens. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Howard Metzenbaum of Ohio, both Democrats, and Mark Hatfield of Oregon and Dave Durenberger of Minnesota, Republicans. The other two senators who voted against the bill were William Roth of Delaware and William Armstrong of Colorado, both Republicans. The Senate bill bans for three years the importation or domestic manufacture of nine types of semiautomatic weapons encompassing 14 models. These include the Kalashnikov, the Israeli-made Uzi and Galil, the Beretta AR-70, the Colt AR-15 and CAR-15, the MAC-10 and MAC-11, the Inratec TEC-9 and the Street Sweeper, a lethal semiautomatic shotgun developed in South Africa. Gun control advocates cheered passage of the crime bill, saying that it indicated the waning influ ence of the National Rifle Association. "I think it provides big momentum for us," said Sara Brady, chairwoman of Handgun Con trol Inc., whose husband, James Brady, was severly wounded by an assassin's bullet meant for President Ronald Reagan. In recent years, the House has been more pro-gun control than the Senate. But unlike the Senate, all members of the House are up for re-election this year, and it is expected that the National Rifle (here in the Seattle times appears an AP photo of Sarah Brady, with the following captions:) The Associated Press Sarah Brady: "I think it (the crime bill) provides big momentum" for gun control advocates. (resuming of central text) Association will apply intense pressure in an effort to kill any gun control measure in the House. Gun control opponents appear nervous about what Bush would do should the Senate bill emerge from a House-Senate conference. There have been no executions for federal crimes since 1972 when the federal government and states had to establish procedures to allow juries to consider aggravating and mitigating circumstances before sentencing a defendant to death. The Senate bill sets up those procedures. The legislation also allows tribal councils on Indian reservations to determine if a person can be executed for committing a crime on tribal land. Because the federal crimes for which capital punishment can be imposed occur so seldom, it is unlikely that the Senate bill, should it become law, would lead to a surge in executions. Far more significant is the section limiting, with some exceptions state death-row inmates to one appeal in federal courts of the constitutionality of their sentence. The provision would apply only in states that provide death- row inmates with free, competent legal counsel to help them prepare their appeals. Currently, condemned prisoners have an unlimited number of appeals.