BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana lawmakers are coming home about a week early after adjourning their 16-day special session on crime.
In the waning hours of the session, the House and Senate gave final approval to a series of bills, including one dealing with capital punishment.
Governor Jeff Landry was in the Senate balcony during the death penalty debate.
He sat with families of murder victims who he said deserve to receive the justice the state promised them.
They watched as the state’s upper chamber approved a House-passed bill that would add nitrogen gas and electrocution as methods to carry out capital punishment.
“Through our proposed legislation, we intend to keep our word to the victims of these awful crimes and deliver the swift and certain justice that they were promised so long ago,” said Sen. Caleb Kleinpeter, R-Port Allen, who handled the bill on the floor.
In Louisiana, 58 people currently sit on death row.
There has not been an execution in the state since 2010 due in part to a shortage of lethal injection drugs.
"I’ve never personally believed that the death penalty honors victims,” Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, said. “It honors vengeance.”
"The death penalty is the ultimate consequence for the most egregious,” Sen. Heather Cloud, R-Turkey Creek, said. “It’s the worst of the worst consequence for the worst of the worst crime.”
“If it’s an African American accused of killing a white person, that person is exceptionally more likely to get the death penalty.” Sen. Gary Carter, D-New Orleans, said. “That is unconstitutional. That is cruel. That is unusual.”
The final vote was 24 yeas and 14 nays.
Gov. Landry vowed to sign the death penalty bill into law when it reaches his desk.
During the special session, lawmakers also passed bills that would impose longer sentences for certain crimes, limit an inmate’s ability to get out of jail early, lower the age to 17 for an offender to be tried in adult court, and allow adults to conceal carry a gun without a permit.
Lawmakers differ on whether the bills will make Louisiana a safer state.
“Overall, I think it was positive,” Sen. Pat Connick, R-Marrero, said. “There were some things that were strong, but overall, I think the public is demanding that we get tough on crime, and we have.”
“This is supposed to be a session dealing with crime,” Duplessis said. “I don’t know how any of these bills in particular are going to prevent crime from happening.”
“I think when the message is out that we’re not going to tolerate carjacking and we’re not going to tolerate people trying to hurt our children when it comes to drugs, I do think that message will get out,” Rep. Laurie Schlegel, R-Metairie said.
“I thought the session was rushed,” Rep. Kyle Green, D-Marrero, said. “It was unneeded. Many of the things we were taking up could have been taken up in the regular session and have a more robust debate about some of these issues.”
The governor has already scheduled bill-signing ceremonies for next week, including an event in New Orleans.
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