Iowa lawmaker wants death penalty reinstated following death of missing girls
The discovery this week of the bodies of two missing Iowa girls has spurred a lawmaker to seek at least a partial reinstatement of the death penalty in the state, the Des Moines Register reports.
Lyric Cook-Morrissey, 10, and Elizabeth Collins, 8 -- who were cousins -- went missing in July in Northeast Iowa. Authorities soon after considered their disappearance to be a case of abduction.
Hunters found two bodies believed to those of the girls on Wednesday, and their identities were later confirmed by authorities.
Iowa state Sen. Kent Sorenson (R-Milo) said he intends to introduce a bill in the upcoming session to allow the death penalty in part, a move motivated by the girls' deaths.
The state repealed its death penalty in 1965.
The chairman of the Judiciary Committee in the Iowa Senate told the Register that bill would not likely have enough support to pass.
