Bush Attacks Crime Bill, Says It ‘Handcuffs Police’

WASHINGTON — President Bush attacked a House-sponsored crime bill Wednesday, telling a group of 110 state and local prosecutors assembled at the White House that it is a “pro-criminal” measure that “handcuffs the police.”

In the Rose Garden with Atty. Gen. Dick Thornburgh at his side, Bush was backed by leaders of the National Assn. of Attorneys General and the National District Attorneys Assn., whose members enthusiastically applauded his remarks.

The crime bill, approved by the House Judiciary Committee, is expected to be debated on the House floor later this week.

Bush said the bill would expand the exclusionary rule, under which evidence seized without a court warrant may be barred from a criminal trial. He said the measure would also increase “litigation abuse” by prisoners, delaying the imposition of capital punishment in many instances by allowing Death Row inmates to make repeated habeas corpus appeals.

“We need a crime bill that will stop the endless abuse of habeas corpus . . . and one that ensures that evidence gathered by good cops acting in good faith isn’t barred by technicalities that let bad people go free,” the President declared.

“And, for the most unspeakable of crimes, we do need a workable death penalty, which is to say a real death penalty.”

In threatening to veto the House measure if it reaches his desk, Bush added: “I will not sign a crime bill that handcuffs the police.”

Rep. Jack Brooks (D-Tex.), chief sponsor of the House bill, defended the legislation as “a tough and effective package . . . that was the product of 30 days of hearings.” He called on the White House to “refrain from political posturing so that we can proceed in a bipartisan manner” to enact anti-crime legislation.

Thornburgh told reporters that the House bill “is largely a specious anti-law enforcement measure” that was approved by “naive and overly idealistic” members of the House Judiciary Committee, headed by Brooks.

He said the bill omits the death penalty for a number of federal crimes currently subject to capital punishment, including mail bombings and airplane bombings resulting in death.

A separate crime bill approved by the Senate in July would be “acceptable,” Thornburgh said, although it contains some features, including its estimated cost, that are not to the Bush Administration’s liking. Any House-passed measure must be reconciled with the Senate legislation before it can be sent to Bush for his signature.

Michael Moore, attorney general of Mississippi and chairman of the national association’s criminal law committee, joined Bush in criticizing the House measure. “I don’t think you’re going to find a single prosecutor in this country who is going to support the habeas corpus provisions in the House bill,” he said.

Moore said the President was “speaking for every one of us” when he attacked provisions that would allow Death Row inmates in state prisons to initiate a series of habeas corpus proceedings that could delay imposition of punishment for years.

“I suspect the House committee was heavily lobbied by defense attorneys,” he said.

Moore, a Democrat, said a more preferable plan that would limit habeas corpus suits was developed by a legal commission headed by retired Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr.

Richard Ieyoub of Lake Charles, La., a Democrat who is president of the district attorneys’ group, said the House bill “would perpetrate a major fraud on this country . . . at a time when people are calling out for stronger criminal sanctions.”

“The House bill would effectively prevent imposition of the death penalty in 37 states which now have capital punishment,” Ieyoub told reporters.