Bill to Permit TV Coverage of Executions Fails in Assembly

The Assembly on Wednesday temporarily sidetracked legislation to permit television news coverage of executions in San Quentin’s gas chamber.

A vote of 23 for the measure and 37 against fell well short of the 54 required for approval. The author, Assemblyman John Burton (D-San Francisco), said he would make the bill easier to pass by removing a provision for quick enactment. With the “urgency clause” taken out, the measure would need only 41 affirmative votes for passage.

Burton said the intent of the bill is to give the public the option of watching executions on television, provided the condemned man or woman consents.

Another supporter, Assemblyman Richard Katz (D-Sylmar), said, “There is no better way to make deterrence real than to give people an opportunity to see the consequences of their actions.”

Opponents argued that televised executions would be used to try to erode public support for capital punishment.

“This bill takes morbid curiosity one step too far,” said Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks). “This bill is designed to create sympathy for the condemned.”

Another foe, Assemblyman Richard Floyd (D-Carson), suggested facetiously that the state sell tickets to enable people to view executions in the open-air Los Angeles Coliseum. “The hell with doing it on free TV,” he said. “Let’s make some bucks out of it.”

The bill would require the prison warden to permit the news media--including television--to witness executions as long as the condemned convict agreed. The law now requires witnesses to be present, but the Department of Corrections contends that it is up to prison authorities to decide whether reporters may be included.

In all of California’s executions, the last of which was in 1967, only print writers--and in one case a courtroom artist--from the news media were allowed to be present. Photographers and television crews have not been present.

The television coverage issue surfaced recently when San Francisco TV station KQED sued the warden of San Quentin who had turned down a request from the station to cover live the execution of condemned murderer Robert Alton Harris. Harris’ execution date has been delayed but could come up again this year.