Death penalty opponents aren't backing off, even though legislation is unlikely to advance. Just over 55% of voters supported the measure to reenact the death penalty for convictions of multiple first-degree intentional homicides, if the homicides are vicious and the convictions are supported by DNA evidence.
Senator Alan Lasee (R-DePere), the referendum's author, plans to introduce a bill that would establish the death for certain types of murder. "We couldn't spell all of that out in the referendum," Lasee said. "We had to ask a question that could be easily understood." Sachin Chheda, campaign director for No Death Penalty Wisconsin, said they're looking forward to what Lasee's bill looks like, and "we look forward to the conversation, and to hearings on that bill."
It may never come to that; Lasee's GOP has lost control of the state Senate and seen its majority narrow in the Assembly. Chheda says opponents have built a strong coalition against the death penalty.