Hamilton: Death penalty’s risks are too high for state By: Arnold Hamilton Guest Columnist February 25, 2021 Arnold Hamilton Exhibit A: the death penalty. As it now stands, neither house is expected to take a deep dive into, much less seriously debate, state-sponsored executions, even though it’s long past time for Oklahoma to end the bloodlust. Yet somehow, the statehouse powers-that-be can make time to take up measures aimed at maximizing Republican political power – including temporarily filling U.S. Senate vacancies and taking steps to thwart the new Democratic president’s alleged desire to seize guns. Let’s contrast what passes for serious lawmaking in Oklahoma these days with what’s happening in Virginia, another state with a sordid history of exacting official state revenge.