Gov. Timothy M. Kaine yesterday vetoed two bills that would have expanded the number of people eligible to receive the death penalty.

House Bill 933, sponsored by Del. C. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, and Senate Bill 560, sponsored by Sen. Mark D. Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, would have repealed the "triggerman rule" -- which stipulates that only the person who commits a capital murder is eligible for the death penalty.

Elimination of the rule would have made it possible for people to qualify to receive capital punishment if they aid and abet in cases of murder for hire, murder involving a continuing criminal enterprise, and terrorism.

The bill also would have allowed, in all other cases of capital murder, a principal in the second degree to be tried as a principal in the first degree if he had the same intent to kill as the principal in the first degree.

Kaine vetoed similar legislation last year.

"Virginia is already second in the nation in the number of executions we carry out," Kaine said in a statement announcing the veto.

"While the nature of the offense targeted by this legislation is very serious, I do not believe that further expansion of the death penalty is necessary to protect human life."

Obenshain and Gilbert may not have enough votes in the Senate to override Kaine's veto. House Bill 933 passed the Senate 24-16; Senate Bill 560 had passed the body 24-14.

Meanwhile, senators yesterday also sustained Kaine's vetoes of two gun bills.

On Tuesday, Kaine vetoed Senate Bill 436, which would have allowed people without concealed-weapons carry permits to transport weapons in their cars in a locked glove box or container.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, R-Fauquier, argued that the bill was a practical solution to the problem of transporting weapons, which must be kept visible if the weapon owner does not have a concealed-carry permit.

A motion to override Kaine's veto narrowly failed to get a two-thirds majority in the Senate, receiving 25 of the 27 votes necessary.

By a wider margin, senators also sustained Kaine's veto of a more controversial gun bill that would have allowed people with concealed weapons permits to bring a concealed firearm into restaurants that serve alcohol.

Senate Bill 476, sponsored by Sen. Emmett W. Hanger, Jr., R-Augusta, would have prohibited the permit holder from consuming alcohol and would have required him to inform a restaurant employee that he was carrying a concealed weapon.

A motion to override Kaine's veto also failed to garner a two-thirds majority, receiving only 22 of the necessary 27 votes in the 40-member body.

On Tuesday Kaine said his vetoes of the gun bills were "public safety issues."
Contact Jim Nolan at (804) 649-6061 or jnolan@timesdispatch.com.