Executions would stop in Alabama until at least June 2017 under a bill that the state Senate Judiciary Committee approved 10-0 Wednesday. The measure also would create a special commission to evaluate innocence claims in death penalty cases. (Read The Anniston Star’s coverage for more details.)

SB 237, sponsored by Sen. Dick Brewbaker, R-Montgomery, would set up the Innocence Inquiry Commission under the state Administrative Office of Courts, and would place a moratorium on all executions until June 1, 2017, while the commission is established.

Arise policy analyst Stephen Stetson testified in favor of a commission, calling it a “recognition of human frailty” in the justice system. The Attorney General’s Office testified against the bill Wednesday, as did a member of Victims of Crime and Leniency (VOCAL), a victims’ rights group.

The bill has bipartisan co-sponsorship from Sens. Vivian Figures, D-Mobile; Bill Hightower, R-Mobile; Del Marsh, R-Anniston; Greg Reed, R-Jasper; Rodger Smitherman, D-Birmingham; Larry Stutts, R-Sheffield; Ward, R-Alabaster; and Tom Whatley, R-Auburn.

Petitioners seeking relief from Alabama’s innocence commission would face an uphill battle, but the concept has gained traction in other Southern death penalty states. Texas created an innocence commission in 2015, while North Carolina’s was created in 2006. A commission would be particularly useful in Alabama, the only state in the nation without a state-funded program to provide legal assistance to death row prisoners.

By Stephen Stetson, policy analyst. Posted Feb. 24, 2016.