Should we publicly hang people who kill police officers? Yes, Alabama politician says
Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler concedes his proposed plan to stop police killings is harsh — but says something has to be done.
“I agree that public hanging is extreme, but also, killing a law enforcement officer is extreme,” Zeigler said, according to WVTM13. “You’ve got to get the attention of these would-be killers in order for it to be a deterrent.”
Zeigler sent a letter to President Donald Trump, asking the Republican to support a law that would give the death penalty to any person convicted of killing a police officer in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, according to The Trussville Tribune.
“It would be more of a deterrent to the killing of officers if would-be killers witnessed others hanging in the public square,” Zeigler said, according to Alabama Today.
Zeigler’s proposal comes less than a month after two Alabama police officers — Wytasha Carter from Birmingham and Sean Tuder from Mobile — were shot and killed on the job, as noted by The Trussville Tribune.
The Alabama politician said a law that promises “timely and swift” executions might have helped prevent such killings.
“Yes, I believe that to get the attention of a would-be killer who might kill a law enforcement officer, he needs to know the old-fashioned public hanging has been brought back,” Zeigler told WVTM13 in an on-screen interview. “We have to get something to get the attention to serve as a deterrent.
“We don’t just want to convict and execute people who have killed law enforcement officers,” Zeigler told WVTM13. “We want to prevent the next one from happening.”
Zeigler’s letter to Trump — which was obtained by Alabama Today — gave the president an example of how he could change the law.
“As you likely know, federal law already has the death penalty for murdering a law enforcement officer if the officer was assisting in a federal investigation,” he concluded his letter, according to Alabama Today. “The change that needs to be made would expand that provision to include any law enforcement officer. It could be a one sentence amendment to 18 U.S. Code § 1121.”
For Zeigler, the proposed change might be the one thing that can strike fear into the hearts of those looking to harm police officers.
“Nothing else makes them think,” he told The Trussville Tribune. “Maybe hanging would.”
President Trump did not mention the letter or the topic in his State of the Union address.
This story was originally published February 6, 2019 at 12:36 PM with the headline "Should we publicly hang people who kill police officers? Yes, Alabama politician says."