Conflicting views on Death Row reprieve

Gov. Gavin Newsom's decision to put in place a moratorium on California's death penalty doesn't sit well with Placer County Sheriff Devon Bell. But for a long-time death-penalty abolition advocate Paul Comiskey of Newcastle, the move this past week by Newsom is an opportunity to dismantle the Death Row infrastructure for now and a step in the right direction. Bell said he was "profoundly saddened and heartbroken" to learn that Newsom had suspended the death penalty. More than four years ago, Detective Mike Davis was shot and killed in Auburn. Also murdered that day by the same man was Sacramento peace officer Danny Oliver. Their murderer, Luis Bracamontes was on Death Row waiting for execution until Newsom's announcement. "My heart goes out to the Davis and Oliver families, our neighboring agencies and our communities, who were promised closure, which has now been ripped away," Bell said. Oddly enough, Bracamontes purportedly had welcomed his execution sentence, telling investigators that God would not allow him to be killed. Comiskey, a criminal-trial lawyer, said he was somewhat surprised by Newsom's announcement. "I knew he was opposed to the death penalty," Comiskey said. "And I've observed what he had done when mayor of San Francisco when he started issuing marriage licenses to gay and lesbian people." Comiskey said he sees Newsom's stand as foolproof legally and will mean no executions while he is governor. Bell, in a statement released this past week, said that a blanket moratorium causes immense pain to the families of the victim, as well as the community. "This decision deprives them of the closure they rightly earned," Bell said. "It is my hope that the governor reconsiders his decision and reflects on the will of the people of California to impose this sentence on those rare cases where the dreadful atrocities committed demand a higher level of justice." Comiskey said he feels sorry for those people who want revenge. "The hatred and desire for revenge will eat people from inside," he said. "And I feel sorry for the public officials who buy into that desire and try to maintain office with it. The death penalty is not moral, not productive and does no good." Besides Bracamontes, Placer County has three men sentenced to death and still living: David Rundle, on Death Row since 1989 for the murders of two women; Arturo Suarez, who killed four people in 1998 on a ranch outside Auburn; and Douglas Scott Mickey, 70, on Death Row since 1983 for the murder of two people at an Ophir home.