Being from Canada, where there is no death penalty under any circumstances for any crime, I'm largely unaware of what the laws are in the United States. When it comes to cop killers, are there any states where there are special penalties for 1) assaulting police, and 2) attempted murder or murder of police?

My view has always been that there should be a special penalty for those who assault, injure, kill, conspire to do or attempt to do any of the preceding. Cops' lives ARE worth more than the average citizen, as far as I'm concerned. PLEASE NOTE : I'm not arguing that the death penalty is even remotely effective as a deterrent; I think we've concretely proven that it is NOT effective in the slightest. I'm simply talking about removing the offender from society - PERMANENTLY - simply to get rid of them.

In NY the Death Penalty has been taken off the books thanks to the liberal State Supreme Court saying it was unconstitutional. As a result we lost NYSP Trooper AJ Sperr (EOW:3/1/06). He had pulled a car over not knowing the two in the car had just robbed a bank (the bank had not notified the police yet). The murderers co defendant testified against him that the scum told him that "there is no death penalty for killing a cop." He then shot AJ 4 times striking him twice. AJ returned fire striking both subjects. He then went back to his car to call for help and the two got out of the car to go to another get away car and the scum shot AJ two more times the last round was the fatal shot. They fled and were caught later as they sought medical attention. The co defendant received 25 to life and the actual shooter received life w/o parole. AJ's Father is actively pushing the State Legislature to bring back the death penalty where it has passed part of the Legislature but is not expected to pass elsewhere therefore effectively squashing the death penalty for cop killers in NY State.

In my county the D.A. says that if you dont go to the hospital, its not simple assult on a LEO. What kind of crap is that?? So I am pretty sure a suspect would only get 20yrs for killing an LEO

Strobelight-I can understand that. I was in a "scuffle" with a suspect a couple of years ago and was pushed. When I went before the magistrate to obtain warrants for drunk in public and simple assault on an officer, I was denied the assault warrant because he didn't hit me with a closed fist. In my opinion, if you touch me, you should be charged.

In NH, we still have a Capital Murder statute for the killing of a police officer. Our Attorney General is currently prosecuting the killer of a NH Police Officer and it is scheduled to go to trial in 08.
Assaulting a police officer is a misdemeanor with an extended sentence however, we as police officers still prosecute our own cases in district court so my officer that prosecutes has been told that anyone who assaults on of my officers (strike, spits, hits, kicks…) we will at least request jail time for the defendant.

In other words…. If you assault one of my officers, we are going to do what ever we can to insure that you think about it the next time you want to try and assault one of us. Whatever the judge does…. is up to the judge.

The job IS dangerous in many ways, some of them due to human malice and some not-- look at how many officers are killed in accidents or when they are investigating traffic accidents or directing traffic. Y'all are very vulnerable out there!

When it comes to someone INTENTIONALLY harming or killing an officer, I would personally want a very harsh punishment. Because LEOs take on more than their share of risk protecting society, society should give them MORE protection, not less. That's not society being generous, either, it is enlightened self-interest. Society NEEDS helpers and protectors, and if it is going to require those helpers to "play by the rules" to protect everyone's civil liberties, it had better try to build in more protection for when LEOs have to deal with people who DON'T "play by the rules."

tat2, I'm glad you made it through that incident, and I hope all your colleagues did, too. Lawsuits that follow are a pain in the neck, but you are alive and (I hope) well and that is the most important thing.

What's that they say? "Better to be judged by nine than carried by six"?

If you kill a police officer intentionally, automatic death penalty should apply. Some people don't agree with me and everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I have numerous family members (mother, father, wife brothers and sisters) on the job and we all agree if someone were to kill us one day on the job that they deserve the same fate we had no choice to face. I say that now and hopefully I never have to experience that nightmare. The Assistant State Attorney's (ASA) down here in Miami don't persue Battery on a P.O. charges as they should either. I was given a call to respond to a fight with bats infront of a pool hall across from a university. To make a long story short the subjects of the call tried to run me over with a stolen Cadi Escalade (Didn't open fire cause of the crowd of people behind the vehicle) and after crashing and the driver bailing out on me, I chased him in to a yard were I got caught up on barbed wire and fell. When I looked up the subject was over me with a 9mm glock in his hand. The only reason the gun didn't go off is because he didn't have a round chambered. I grabbed the gun away and drew my weapon and he fled into the backyard of the house. After a perimeter and canine we caught the guy. I went to a Prefile Hearing with the assigned ASA once. Came to find out he plead out to 3 years in prison and the ASA dropped all the gun charges and the fleeing if he agreed to plea guilty to a felony traffic charge. Go figure, I guess the DA's and ASA's are the same everywhere. Be safe out there guys.

This hits close to home for me. Last month a gang banger tried to take me out by ramming me head on at about 60 mph. Fortunately, I was wearing my seatbelt and he wasn't, so I faired better than he did and was able to self extricate myself out of my unit. He was hurt (hell, we were both in bad shape) but still wanted to finish what he started and the fight was on. After dumping my whole can of OC and numerous ASP strikes I got him down and cuffed. Found a .25 caliber pistol in his pocket which I have thought about often. I would like to think that it was because I was out of the car and on him quickly that he couldn't get to it. I thank god everyday for that seatbelt and maintaining conciousness after the collision.

I told you that to tell you this: The DA here feels that we can not prove intent, even though I can testify that I saw the vehicle accelerate and come into my lane of travel as I approached, that he ran his mouth to the ambulance crew that it was an intentional act, that he also ran his mouth to his cell mates about it being intentional and that if he had it to do over again he would make sure I was dead. We (my administration) raised enough hell over this that this case will be presented to the grand jury next month.

I was in grand jury today for a felony DWI and the DA stated that it will be presented next month. He even introduced me to the jury as "The one who got run over" and I think they are all looking forward to hearing about this. Since the "intent" issue came up, my agancy has been hard at it collecting written statements (why this wasn't done earlier is a mystery) from his cell mates, some of which have already been released and had to be tracked down, and the EMS crew. I think that this is one of the main reasons that it'll be presented now. The kicker is that even though it happened to me, CID has picked up the case and they will be presenting it, but I fully intend (and expect) to be brought in to testify.

You guys have been through some harrowing stuff.

I am sure you have dealt seriously with any needs for physical healing-- and I hope you deal just as seriously with the emotional/mental/spiritual aspects as well. I hope your departments take these seriously and offer you good resources. The invisible effects can be just as incapacitating as visible injuries.

If anyone thinks I am suggesting weakness here, they don't understand the nature of human neurology.

When a lowlife thug decides to take the life of a civilian, he shows no respect for life, when he kills or attempts to kill a LEO, he also shows no respect for the law as well as the life of that LEO. Yet, once behind bars, they expect those same laws to protect them from facing the same fate they dealt their victims.

I believe that once a scumbag takes a life with intent, no matter if it's civilian or LEO, they get 1 appeal, then they die a month later! Not 10-20-30 yrs later when just about everyone of the victim's relatives & friends are either dead or too damn old to even remember the murder.

The death penalty is not feared by criminals because as was stated by texaslawdawg603, they know that 1) their state doesn't have it or 2) they won't face the chair or needle for a few decades at the earliest.

This country has it's priorities screwed up when the criminal element has more rights than the innocent victims they have killed, maimed, & raped have!

Semper Fi

how about automatic death on the spot for those who hurt or severly injur those that cannot defend them self... as for my self they will have a very difficult time taking this cops life... we are given the tools and traning to stop those who would others harm...................ALL IT TAKES FOR EVIEL TO REIGN IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING..

Although I agree that the value of my life is no more than the average citizen, the state of Texas does not:

§ 19.02. MURDER. (a) In this section:
(1) "Adequate cause" means cause that would commonly
produce a degree of anger, rage, resentment, or terror in a person
of ordinary temper, sufficient to render the mind incapable of cool
reflection.
(2) "Sudden passion" means passion directly caused by
and arising out of provocation by the individual killed or another
acting with the person killed which passion arises at the time of
the offense and is not solely the result of former provocation.
(b) A person commits an offense if he:
(1) intentionally or knowingly causes the death of an
individual;
(2) intends to cause serious bodily injury and commits
an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an
individual; or
(3) commits or attempts to commit a felony, other than
manslaughter, and in the course of and in furtherance of the
commission or attempt, or in immediate flight from the commission
or attempt, he commits or attempts to commit an act clearly
dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual.
(c) Except as provided by Subsection (d), an offense under
this section is a felony of the first degree.
(d) At the punishment stage of a trial, the defendant may
raise the issue as to whether he caused the death under the
immediate influence of sudden passion arising from an adequate
cause. If the defendant proves the issue in the affirmative by a
preponderance of the evidence, the offense is a felony of the second
degree.

Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 883, ch. 399, § 1, eff. Jan. 1, 1974.
Amended by Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 1123, ch. 426, art. 2, § 1,
eff. Jan. 1, 1974; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, § 1.01, eff.
Sept. 1, 1994.

§ 19.03. CAPITAL MURDER. (a) A person commits an offense
if the person commits murder as defined under Section 19.02(b)(1)
and:
(1) the person murders a peace officer or fireman who
is acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty and who the
person knows is a peace officer or fireman;
(2) the person intentionally commits the murder in the
course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary,
robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, obstruction or
retaliation, or terroristic threat under Section 22.07(a)(1), (3),
(4), (5), or (6);
(3) the person commits the murder for remuneration or
the promise of remuneration or employs another to commit the murder
for remuneration or the promise of remuneration;
(4) the person commits the murder while escaping or
attempting to escape from a penal institution;
(5) the person, while incarcerated in a penal
institution, murders another:
(A) who is employed in the operation of the penal
institution; or
(B) with the intent to establish, maintain, or
participate in a combination or in the profits of a combination;
(6) the person:
(A) while incarcerated for an offense under this
section or Section 19.02, murders another; or
(B) while serving a sentence of life imprisonment
or a term of 99 years for an offense under Section 20.04, 22.021, or
29.03, murders another;
(7) the person murders more than one person:
(A) during the same criminal transaction; or
(B) during different criminal transactions but
the murders are committed pursuant to the same scheme or course of
conduct;
(8) the person murders an individual under six years
of age; or
(9) the person murders another person in retaliation
for or on account of the service or status of the other person as a
judge or justice of the supreme court, the court of criminal
appeals, a court of appeals, a district court, a criminal district
court, a constitutional county court, a statutory county court, a
justice court, or a municipal court.
(b) An offense under this section is a capital felony.
(c) If the jury or, when authorized by law, the judge does
not find beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant is guilty of
an offense under this section, he may be convicted of murder or of
any other lesser included offense.

Added by Acts 1973, 63rd Leg., p. 1123, ch. 426, art. 2, § 1, eff.
Jan. 1, 1974. Amended by Acts 1983, 68th Leg., p. 5317, ch. 977,
§ 6, eff. Sept. 1, 1983; Acts 1985, 69th Leg., ch. 44, § 1,
eff. Sept. 1, 1985; Acts 1991, 72nd Leg., ch. 652, § 13, eff.
Sept. 1, 1991; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 715, § 1, eff. Sept. 1,
1993; Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 887, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1993;
Acts 1993, 73rd Leg., ch. 900, § 1.01, eff. Sept. 1, 1994; Acts
2003, 78th Leg., ch. 388, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2003; Acts 2005,
79th Leg., ch. 428, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 2005.