Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber announced that he will ban capital punishment in the state of Oregon for the remainder of his term, in a press release on his website Tuesday. On the same day he stopped the execution of death row inmate Gary Haugen.
“Oregon has a long and turbulent history with capital punishment. Our state constitution originally had no provision for the death penalty,” Kitzhaber said in the press release. “It has been carried out just twice in last 49 years in Oregon. Both were during my first administration as Governor, one in 1996 and the other in 1997. I allowed those sentences to be carried out despite my personal opposition to the death penalty. I was torn between my personal convictions about the morality of capital punishment and my oath to uphold the Oregon constitution.”
The Democratic governor also announced that he would issue a repieve to any death row inmates currently facing execution, as he did for the twice convicted Haugen, who was scheduled to receive death by lethal injection in December. Haugen is one of 37 inmates currently on death row in Oregon.
“”It is time for this state to consider a different approach,” Kitzhaber said on his website. “Fourteen years ago, I struggled with the decision to allow an execution to proceed. Over the years I have thought if faced with the same set of circumstances I would make a different decision. That time has come.”
