Vote Could Stop Temecula Man's Execution

The execution of a man who fatally shot a Temecula liquor store clerk could be stopped by an initiative on November's ballot.

The "SAFE California Act" would repeal the death penalty as the maximum punishment, effectively banning capital punishment in the state.

of killing Rafi Ibrahim, 34, during a robbery at a Rancho Liquor in Old Town. .

The act aims to save money, because capital punishment trials are extremely expensive, the initiative states. If it passes, the savings will amount to the "high tens of millions."

The full text of the initiative is available by clicking on the PDF file above.

Capital punishment was legalized in 1978 by a ballot initiative written by Donald Heller, a former prosecutor. Now, Heller and others are working to ban the penalty.

“It’s been a colossal failure,” Heller told The New York Times.  “The cost of our system of capital punishment is so enormous that any benefit that could be obtained from it — and now I think there’s very little or zero benefit — is so dollar-wasteful that it serves no effective purpose.”