In the News
Senators John Boozman (R-AR) and Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced the “Thin Blue Line Act” in the U.S. Senate on Jan. 15.
Federal law already makes the targeting, killing or attempted killing of federal law enforcement officers, judges and correctional officers an aggravating factor in the decision whether to impose the federal death penalty, but the “Thin Blue Line Act” would expand this list to include state and local police, firefighters and other first responders.
“Our law enforcement officers put their lives at risk to serve and defend their communities,” Sen. Boozman said in a statement. “I am proud to join my colleagues to stand with the men and women behind the badge when criminals choose to target them with violence simply because they are committed to enforcing our laws and maintaining order.”
Washington County Sheriff Jay Cantrell and Tontitown Police Department detective Keith Lindley are in support of the introduction of this act.
“They’re out there every day putting their life on the line, trying to make this place, this world safer,” Cantrell said. “And then, somebody to intentionally target them and murder that first responder or attempt to murder them, I think that we need to have the full penalty allowed by law to go out and prosecute them.”
Northwest Arkansas is no stranger to officers being killed in the line of duty. Officer Kevin Apple of Pea Ridge was killed in the line of duty June 26, 2021, and Officer Stephen Carr was killed in the line of duty Dec. 7, 2019.
Lindley is no stranger to the living nightmare that comes with losing a fellow service member, coworker and friend.
“If you’re an old man like me and you’ve been a cop for more than 20 years, I’ve buried friends,” Lindley said. “I have been involved in situations where there’s gunfire and there’s bullets, and I’ve had to say, ‘Goodbye,’ to people that were close to me, that were colleagues and people that I ate lunch with just earlier in the week.”
Bryan Sexton, Benton County’s prosecuting attorney, said the act establishes aggravating factors. Sexton said if aggravating factors are proven, then the defense will put up “a lot more broad” mitigating factors.
Sexton said the jury will then decide whether the aggravating factors outweigh the mitigating factors. If they do, then a suspect in a capital murder case could face “either life imprisonment without the possibility of parole or the death penalty,” Sexton said.
“Laws like the one that Senator Boozman put forward will be a marker to make sure that people understand that’s the difference between law and order in our communities and disorder,” Sexton said. “We’ll drive home the point that there are serious, serious effects that happen to a community when an officer’s killed in the line of duty like this, and we are going to treat those facts seriously and we’re going to continue to pursue justice for the victims.”
That work toward justice is giving Lindley a “warmer blanket of security.”
“Knowing that our families, when we’re gone, if that were to happen, God forbid, are going to have a greater semblance of justice,” Lindley said.
Click here to read the full story from KNWA or watch it here.