Prosecutors in Salt Lake, Utah, Summit and Grand counties are calling on Utah lawmakers to scrap the death penalty. On Tuesday, the prosecutors sent a letter to Gov Spencer Cox and the Utah State Legislature. Utah County Attorney David Leavitt says the death penalty is “simply the big lie that we tell ourselves to help us believe that we’re making a difference.” Leavitt also says it costs more money and takes up more time to work on death penalty cases than any other case.
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill says most families don’t always want the killer to die, they just want “accountability and assurance that the convicted killer won’t harm someone else.” Gill says, because a death sentence is a 25-30 year conversation, loved ones often get lost in the equation, which is the opposite of what families want.
