Bill allowing death penalty in school shootings likely to advance

A bill that would allow the death penalty for murders committed on school grounds passed the Senate last month and stands a good chance of advancing in the House.

Senate Bill 385 would allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty or life imprisonment without parole for defendants charged with committing murder on school or campus grounds or places of religious worship. Prosecutors also could seek capital punishment for murders committed when children are likely present.

The bill passed the Senate 45-5 and has been assigned to the House Courts and Criminal Code Committee. The chair of that committee, Rep. Thomas Washburne, is a supporter of capital punishment and agrees that where a murder is committed should be considered an aggravating factor in seeking the death penalty.

"If someone's willing to come on school property and murder someone, that could very well be one that could be added to the list of aggravators that would bring it to a death penalty situation," said Washburne, R-Inglefield. "If someone's willing to come in and kill somebody during a religious service, then that conduct, too, probably could be an aggravator."

There are nearly 20 aggravating factors that allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty or life without parole in murder cases in Indiana. Other circumstances include murdering a law enforcement officer and killing more than one person.

Washburne said he expects resistance from those who oppose the death penalty and might think the legislation is unwarranted.

Richard Dieter, executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, said adding aggravating factors that allow the death penalty doesn't address the underlying problem of why people commit murder.

"As a preventive thing, I think it's somewhat meaningless. People who do school shootings are really not deterred by the punishment," Dieter said. "I understand the sentiment that the worst crimes deserve the worst punishment, but being smart about crime would be looking into other solutions that might work."

Often, Dieter said, those who kill someone on school property either kill themselves or assume they will be killed in the process. Such is the case with the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007 and the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012.

In Indiana, Cody Cousins received a 65-year sentence for the brutal and gruesome shooting and stabbing death of a fellow Purdue University student. Cousins committed suicide about a month after he was sentenced.

The bill's author, Sen. Brandt Hershman, said the Purdue shooting was his motivation for introducing SB 385. Tippecanoe County Prosecutor Pat Harrington told the Lafayette Journal & Courier that he was unable to seek the death penalty against Cousins because Indiana law does not include campus shootings as an aggravating factor.

"The question ultimately on the bill is not whether the death penalty should be legal or not," said Hershman, R-Buck Creek. "The underlying question is what circumstances do we consider appropriate for the imposition of the death penalty."

The bill received bipartisan support in the Senate.

Sen. Greg Taylor, D-Indianapolis, does not support the death penalty, but he voted for the bill.

"There's some logic to it," Taylor said of SB 385 during a brief discussion before the vote last month. "If you commit a murder in front of children, then I think you must have some kind of problem and, actually, we should consider that more heinous."

Hershman said he expects the bill to receive a similar level of support in the House.

The Lafayette Journal & Courier contributed to this story.

Call Star reporter Kristine Guerra at (317) 444-6209. Follow her on Twitter:@kristine_guerra.