Nebraska ends death penalty in historic and close veto override

Nebraska became the 19th state to abolish the death penalty after lawmakers narrowly voted to override a veto of the repeal bill on Wednesday.

The Legislature voted 30 to 19 to override Gov. Pete Ricketts (R). That was exactly the number of votes needed to preserve the repeal.

“No matter how many other things I have achieved while here, had I not gotten the death penalty repealed I would have felt it was a failure," Sen. Ernie Chambers, who has been pushing for repeal for 40 years, told reporters after the vote, The Lincoln Journal Star reported.

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