Overview

• The new law bars cashless bail for specified violent offenses and most repeat offenders, curbs magistrates’ discretion, allows the state chief justice to suspend magistrates, and expands triggers for court-ordered mental-health evaluations.
• Provisions aim to end the de facto halt on executions since 2006 by imposing deadlines on death-row appeals and authorizing alternative methods if lethal injection is unavailable or unconstitutional.
• Stein said there will be no firing squads during his tenure, even as the statute directs the executive branch to identify viable execution methods.
• Republicans wrote the measure in response to the Aug. 22 light-rail killing of Iryna Zarutska; it passed with bipartisan support in the House after a late Senate amendment on capital punishment prompted Democratic protests.
• Suspect Decarlos Brown Jr. remains in custody on state first-degree murder and a federal mass-transit death charge following a history of arrests and a prior misdemeanor release, with competency evaluations underway.