Senate OKs Death Penalty in Case Where Gun Was Transported Across State Lines : Crime: Legislation would give federal prosecutors added jurisdiction. Lawmakers back Bush plan to curb appeals by condemned.

The Senate endorsed a dramatic expansion of the federal death penalty Wednesday, voting, 65 to 33, to authorize capital punishment for any murder involving a gun transported across state lines.

Sen. Alfonse M. D’Amato (R-N.Y.) said that his amendment to an omnibus crime bill was aimed primarily at letting federal prosecutors seek the death penalty in 14 states where capital punishment is not on the books.

Many cases now handled by state prosecutors could wind up in federal hands if his provision becomes law, D’Amato acknowledged, but “the public demands real justice for the depraved killers who are roaming the streets of America.”

The action brought to 50 the number of offenses that the politically charged bill would make eligible for the federal death penalty.

Adopting another key amendment Wednesday, the Senate approved President Bush’s proposal to speed up executions by drastically curbing Death Row appeals.

Voting 58 to 40, the lawmakers chose the Bush plan over a Democratic-drafted alternative, which also would have streamlined the much-criticized habeas corpus appeals system but would have given inmates greater opportunity to challenge their death sentences.

The two actions vividly demonstrated senators’ sensitivity to public opinion polls showing crime to be a top domestic issue--one that could play a major role in next year’s elections. D’Amato himself apparently faces a tough reelection fight, as do many of the senators voting for the get-tough-on-crime proposals.

The Senate will continue working today on the omnibus measure, which also calls for a ban on certain “assault weapons,” a waiting period for handgun purchases and increased aid for federal, state and local law enforcement. The House is expected to take up its own crime bill later this summer.

D’Amato, whose own state of New York has no death penalty, said that in most instances under his amendment, murder prosecutions would continue to be carried out by local district attorneys’ offices.

“But for the most aggravated crimes, the creation of federal jurisdiction will be an important complement to state and local enforcement efforts,” he said. “And in states that lack the death penalty under their own laws, federal prosecution is the only means of pursuing the death penalty for the most violent gun homicides.”

In most gun-related murders, D’Amato said, the firearm originates with an out-of-state manufacturer, or previous owner, qualifying the defendant to be sentenced to death in federal court if his amendment becomes law.

In brief debate, the measure was opposed only by Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), a former county prosecutor who protested that it would encroach unduly on state responsibilities.

Sens. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) and Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.) offered the Bush proposal to restrict habeas corpus appeals, not only by Death Row inmates but all others in prison.

They complained that hundreds of convicted murderers are escaping execution by endlessly filing repetitious, frivolous petitions. They noted that about 2,500 prisoners have been on Death Row for an average of 8 1/2 years, some for twice that long.

“Yet, only 147 vicious murderers have been executed since 1972,” Thurmond said.

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), backing an alternative reform plan authored by Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), protested that the Bush proposal was too harsh. “Do we want blood so badly that we will have it at the expense of justice?” he asked.

The most significant element of the Bush plan would bar federal courts from taking any habeas corpus appeal that had been considered “fully and fairly” at the state level.

A key part of Graham’s proposal would have permitted a federal court to apply a Supreme Court decision retroactively to a prisoner’s appeal if the ruling enabled the prisoner to raise a new issue. Hatch and Thurmond charged that this would increase, not reduce, the flood of habeas corpus petitions.

The habeas corpus vote was Bush’s first victory on the bill. A day earlier, senators rejected his proposal to expand the use of illegally seized evidence in criminal trials.

Sen. John Seymour (R-Calif.) voted for the D’Amato and Hatch-Thurmond amendments, while Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) opposed them.

Late Wednesday, action on the bill ground to a halt as the Senate debated a surprise amendment that its author, Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), said would end job quotas based on race, sex, religion or national origin.

The amendment to prohibit “preferential” employment practices ignited a fierce debate that Senate Democratic leaders had hoped to avoid until they could bring to the floor a controversial job discrimination bill.

Shortly before midnight, the Senate voted, 71 to 28, to table, or kill, the amendment. But Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) said he would bring up a modified version today that protects “affirmative action programs designed to recruit qualified minorities and women for an applicant pool.”