California death penalty moratorium proposal dies

As detailed in this AP article, an "attempt to impose a two-year moratorium on carrying out California's death penalty failed to pass a key Assembly committee Thursday, ending its chances for the year."  Additional reporting on this interesting legislative development comes from this Reuters account.

UPDATE:  The New York Times adds this coverage, and TalkLeft comments here.  Relatedly, CrimProf yesterday in this post assembled stories about other efforts to halt the death penalty.