Following the recent murder of two law enforcement officers in separate incidents in Utah, some have called for mandatory death penalty for individuals convicted of killing a police officer.
But some in the Beehive State say that such a measure would be unconstitutional.
According to ABC News, Representative Paul Ray sponsored a 2017 bill that made targeting a law enforcement officer an aggravating factor that can lead to a death sentence, but stopped short of making death mandatory.
"I'm never in support of mandatory. I think that control needs to be with the courts," Ray said.
Jason Stevenson of the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah said that a "mandatory death penalty is unconstitutional because it takes away the discretion from the juries about whether or not to apply that ultimate penalty."
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