Death penalty Bill fails

A bill to reinstate the death penalty in Massachusetts failed in the state House of Representatives by a single vote - a week after it passed by the same margin. John Slattery, a Democrat, said he switched his vote from "yes" to "no" after talking to constituents about Louise Woodward, the British nanny convicted last week of murder in the death of an infant in her care.

Massachusetts appeared ready to join the 38 other American states with capital punishment when House members, many spurred by a month of grisly crimes that left mothers and children killed, passed a death penalty bill 81-79 on 28 October. -- AP, Boston