State Senator Martin Golden wants cop killers to pay — with their lives.
The Bay Ridge legislator is once again submitting a bill in the State Senate that would reinstate the death penalty for “the intentional murder of a police officer.”
Golden believes that New York is “sending the wrong message” by not having a death penalty statute on the books for those convicted of murdering police officers, peace officers and correction officers.
“As a state, we need to stand and say that if you kill a member of law enforcement, there will be sure, swift and severe punishment,” Golden said in a statement.
Golden said that the passage of his bill would provide “a safer environment for those who put their lives at risk every day on our streets and in our jails and prisons.”
“By not having a cop−killer death penalty law on the books, we are doing a disservice to all the men and women who put their lives on the line every day to protect us, and telling murderers that it doesn’t matter who you kill,” he said.
There hasn’t been an active death penalty law on the books since 2004 when the New York Court of Appeals ruled that the procedure for imposing the death penalty was flawed.
Since that decision, prosecutors from throughout the state haven’t been able to demand the death penalty for any first−degree murder cases, including the slaying of a police officer during the performance of his duties.
According to Golden’s bill, eight police officers have been murdered in the state since the New York Court of Appeals rendered their decision, including Police Officer Russel Timoshenko, who was gunned down in 2007 during a routine car stop in East Flatbush.
“Seven of these murders have occurred after this legislation enacted a sentence of life without parole for those who kill law enforcement officers,” according to the bill. “Other officers have been seriously wounded.”
“The need is clear that a deterrence is needed to address this trend of aggression toward those men and women who put their lives at risk while protecting the citizens of this state,” the bill states.
Golden’s bill is currently being mulled over by members of the codes committee. While there are 18 co−sponsors on the bill, none of them are from Brooklyn.
A similar bill also calling for the death penalty to cop killers has been sponsored by Assemblymember RoAnn Destito of Oneida County.
