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Gov. Mitch Daniels, in his longest public discussion of the death penalty, said Friday that although he has moral reservations he believes that sentence is appropriate for the most extreme crimes in which guilt is clear.

Daniels, who has freely spoken of his religious faith and launched his inauguration with a church service and gospel concert, said there are "honest moral questions" about whether the death penalty is proper.

"I honestly would say on different days I can feel differently about that," he said. "But that's because this is a values issue, one that every citizen has to search his or her own heart on."

He added that the "people of Indiana very clearly believe that at least in the worst of cases the option of this penalty is appropriate, and I agree."

Daniels could face his first life-or-death decision soon. Donald Ray Wallace, convicted of killing an Evansville family of four in 1980, is scheduled to be executed March 10.

Wallace has not asked Daniels for clemency.

Throughout his campaign for the governor's office, the issue of the death penalty was seldom if ever raised. And when then-Gov. Joe Kernan commuted the death sentencof a Death Row inmate two days before leaving office, Daniels declined comment.

Friday, in his weekly meeting with reporters, Daniels said two issues are involved in weighing the death penalty.

"First of all, there's the need to make sure in any case that there's not one particle of doubt about guilt," he said.

He would want to be sure, he said, that "whatever else ought to go into the decision, it's clear that the extreme criminal act had actually been committed by the person accused."

"And then secondly, very honestly, to weigh the question of to whom justice and vengeance ultimately belongs," he said, using words that echoed the Biblical passage: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, sayeth the Lord."

Asked whether he had religious reservations, Daniels said: "I'll just say moral."

When Kernan commuted the sentence of Michael Daniels on Jan. 8, giving him life in prison for the 1978 murder of a Fort Benjamin Harrison chaplain, he called on state government to examine whether the sentencing system in death penalty cases is fair.

While Michael Daniels was sentenced to death for his part in the murder of Allan Streett, two accomplices received lesser terms and have long been out of prison.

Such disparities, Kernan said then, "should cause us to take a hard look at how Indiana administers and reviews capital sentences." Other states, especially Illinois, where then-Gov. George Ryan emptied Death Row because of concerns that innocent people were being executed, also are examining how the penalty is administered.

Gov. Daniels said he does not think Indiana needs to take any systemic look at the death penalty.

"I think we have pretty good systems in place now, multiple layers. Whatever one thinks about the death penalty, you can't say that we approach it hastily. There's so many layers of appeals," Daniels said.

"Look at the age of some of these cases. And now we have the new forensic techniques and other precautions and safeguards that are available."

That, he said, is "exactly as it should be."

At least two of the more conservative members of Indiana's legislature said they are comfortable with Daniels' stance on the death penalty.

Rep. Woody Burton, R-Greenwood, and Sen. Michael Young, R-Indianapolis, said that they have no concerns about Daniels' position as long as he continues to believe the penalty is appropriate for those guilty of the worst crimes.

Call Star reporter Mary Beth Schneider at (317) 444-2772.

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