After a push to end Utah’s death penalty system failed two years ago, lawmakers will again consider whether to abolish capital punishment.
HB379 would prohibit Utah prosecutors from seeking the death penalty after May 8, 2018. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Gage Froerer, R-Huntsville, would still allow for the nine men currently on death row to be executed. It would also allow prosecutors to continue to seek executions in current cases — so long as they file their intent to do so before the May 2018 deadline.
Utah legislators came close to abolishing the death penalty in 2016 — but the bill never reached the House floor before the midnight deadline on the last night of session.