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A Utah House committee has approved a bill, from Rep. Paul Ray of Clearfield, to add human trafficking to the list of aggravating factors that could allow the death penalty in homicide cases.

— Human traffickers could face execution under Utah bill — Robert Gehrke | The Salt Lake Tribune

"Human traffickers could be sentenced to death if victims are killed in commission of the crime under a bill advanced Tuesday by a House committee.

" 'I think we all know how heinous of a crime human trafficking is. We have kids that are being trafficked for sexual purposes, for labor,' said Rep. Paul Ray, R-Clearfield, the sponsor of HB136. 'We just think it's a good move to make this available to the prosecutors to have in their arsenal if they need to go at it.'

"Ray's legislation makes engaging in human trafficking an aggravating factor that makes a homicide eligible for capital punishment. ..."

That's too bad.

As we said last year, that's the anger talking:

— Utah should not try to out-monster the monsters — Salt Lake Tribune Editorial, May 27, 2015

"There is little reason to doubt that anyone who saw what Utah state Rep. Paul Ray says he saw in the disgusting world of human trafficking would be as appalled and sickened as he was. It speaks well of the Clearfield Republican that he cares enough to see for himself, by accompanying law enforcement agents into the field, this horrid underbelly of modern life.

"But Ray's proposed legislative reaction, to add child sex trafficking to the list of crimes for which Utah would impose the death penalty, is the anger speaking. That approach is not the rational and thoughtful consideration that should be the basis of making and enforcing the law.

"Capital punishment is slowly but surely being abandoned by all jurisdictions that might be considered civilized. Lawmakers in Nebraska, a state that rivals Utah in its conservative bona fides, are in the process of voting it out.

"Among the more convincing arguments used in that debate — and elsewhere — is that the conservative touchstone belief that government is flawed and should have minimal power over people's lives is repulsed by the idea that any government should be considered flawless enough to put people to death. Dispassionate reflection on the number of death row inmates who have been exonerated in recent years supports the idea that the process is not nearly dependable enough to be allowed to end even one human life. ...

" ... Instead of trying to out-monster the monsters, as Ray proposes, enlightened law enforcement agencies have found the best weapon in the arsenal against sex trafficking: Stop treating prostitutes as criminals and start treating them as victims. Rescue them, resettle them, protect them as they rat out and testify against their enslavers.

"Cold compassion, not hot wrath, is the answer."

Meanwhile, in St. George, some calmer heads prevail:

— Prosecutors withdraw their intent to seek death penalty in St. George killing — Jessica Miller | The Salt Lake Tribune

"At the request of the alleged victim's family, the death penalty has been taken off the table for Brandon Perry Smith, who is accused of killing a woman in a St. George apartment in 2010. Prosecutors filed a motion Tuesday withdrawing their intent to prosecute the case as capital murder for the stabbing death of 20-year-old Jerrica Christensen.

"Smith still faces a charge of first-degree felony aggravated murder — which is punishable by a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole — but he no longer can be executed if convicted.

" 'The state is taking this action at the request of the family of the victim in an effort to avoid the delays associated with litigating a capital homicide case,' Deputy Washington County Attorney Ryan Shaum wrote in court papers. 'And to focus on bringing the case to trial as soon as possible.' ... "