The copper era and Morenci leader., 1913-04-18
ARldONA AND THE VETOED PE-
 NAL CODE

NAL CODE.
 THE COPPER IRA has gleaned
 the following opinions from the news
 and editorial pages of the press Of
 Arizona concerning Governor Hunts veto of the Penal Code and his atti- tude toward capital punishment
 The article appearing as a reprint Of Dr. Hughes speech on Capital / Punishment voices the sentiments of
 the editor of this paper on that sub- ect.
 But first we print Governor Hunts $ reasons for vetoing the Penal Code known as H. B. AS.
 Tn explaining his reasons for veto- ing house bill IS, better known as the penal code, Governor Hunt filed in the office of Secretary of State Osborn the following message:
 Phoenix, Arizona, April II, 1915 Sir:
 l have the honor to convey to you, the information that I have this day disapproved and withheld my sigma ture from House Bill No AS, which was enacted by the First State Legis- lature in it's second special session, and which is entitled, An Act To Establish A Penal Code"
 The reasons for my disapproval of this measure are, in my opinion, per fectly valid, just and well-founded, and are based upon the provisions con tained 1T. Title 9S, Section 12SS, which reads as follows:
 The governor shall have no power to grant any communication of any sentence of death, nor any reprieve or stay or suspension of execution in any DfMral case for a period exceeding
 |Sety days, except for the reason that new evidence has been discovered tending to show the innocence of the convicted person, statement of which evidence has been transmitted to the governor
 Prior to the so-called revision" of the Penal Code, by process of which the radical departure quoted above was thrust into the proposed organic i law of the state and submitted to me for approval, the statutes of Arizona ! reposed in the executive the power to commute and reprieve for sufficient ! reasons the sentences of prisoners, | whether such prisoners were convict | ed of capital or lesser offences.
 According moreover, to information { which I have obtained from authora- i tive sources, the committing and re- prieving powers are conferred upon the governors of all the common prised in the United States. While, therefore, I would not presume to question the motives of certain estim- able gentlen- Cn in the lower house where the fo- going amendment" ac- cording to the verbation record of leg islative proceedings, was obtruded into the revised Penal Code of the state, I am led to express sincere won- derment at the alacrity shown by cer- tain legislators, erstwhile termed conservatives in departing so in- from the precedents set by all of the forty-seven states that preceded Arizona into the Union. fl
 Although l must assume that the who conceived and foster , ed this measure, did so in a broadly : tolerant spirit, looking the while down { he long vista of years that lies before Arizona as a sovereign commonwealth , take the libebrty of suggesting, nev- t that an enactment times as t his one, some of the executives DOW V ITS and duties, would more wisely and r ,ct of especial consideration than by C ts inclusion in the revision of the r Penal Code, course, which as is ap- c larent in view of this message, has b laced in jeopardy the statutes of this ntire division of the Revised Statutes S Leaving aside, nevertheless, all cen. O iteration of the intent of the amend D lent to which objection is made, it is 9 esirable to anticipate broadly and is ccuratelX the actual results which O he enforcement of Section 12SS Of q ftle 9S would entail were it to be- O one part of Arizona's laws D It is, as mater Of fact, very gen Ia rally known that, at this time, five sl len are confined in the state prison tc waiting '1egal' commitment to eter- ti ity. It has recently transpired fur 1 lermOre, that petitions bearing in ol le aggregate several hundred sigma. vi tres, and proposing to initiate a law of