Vote 'yes' or we'll kill you

JS Daywatch:

TUESDAY, May 16, 2006, 5:21 p.m.
By Stacy Forster

Death penalty referendum sent to voters
Madison - Voters in the November election will be asked whether the state should reinstate the death penalty, following a vote today by the state Senate.

The Senate voted 18-15 to agree with changes made by the Assembly this month and send the issue to voters in November, rather than the September primary as called for in an earlier version of the measure.

The advisory referendum will be found amid Wisconsin voters' choices for governor, attorney general and other top state officials, as well as a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage and substantially similar relationships, such as civil unions.

The death penalty vote will also play out at the same time as the trial of Steven Avery, scheduled to begin Oct. 16. In 2003, Avery was released from prison after being wrongfully convicted of a sexual assault, but he has since been charged in the death of Teresa Halbach.

Those who backed the resolution said it was important to allow voters a chance to weigh in on an important issue at a time when there is likely to be the greatest turnout, but opponents dismissed the resolution as a political ploy.

The question, which won't be binding, will read: Should the death penalty be enacted in the State of Wisconsin for cases involving a person who is convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, if the conviction is supported by DNA evidence?

The referendum question probably wouldn't affect Avery because the harshest penalty now facing Wisconsin defendants is life in prison.

Wisconsin has not had capital punishment since 1853.

Renee Crawford has commentary and the roll call.