West Virginia hasn't had the death penalty since 1965 and local law enforcement officials have mixed opinions on whether the state should bring it back.
An effort to reintroduce the death penalty failed last year in the state legislature.
Marion County Prosecuting Attorney Pat Wilson said he can see valid arguments to each side of the issue.
"Certainly, there are horribly, heinous crimes that very well might warrant that severe of a penalty," Wilson said.
But, on the flip side, Wilson said many studies have shown that the death penalty is not effective in deterring murder. Plus, there's the added cost of the appeals involved.
Monongalia County Prosecuting Attorney Marcia Ashdown said she personally would not favor the reintroduction of the death penalty in West Virginia.
"It adds very big stakes to any prosecuting and a great deal of complexity," Ashdown said.
Appeals in death penalty cases go on for years and years, she added. If studies don't show the death penalty to be a deterrent to murder, Ashdown said she's not sure the entire process would be worth all of the effort, since West Virginia law allows juries the option of sentencing someone convicted of first-degree murder to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Star City Police Chief Vic Propst, however, thinks the death penalty would be a deterrent.
"I've always felt I could support it," he said.
Copyright 2012 - The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
