An effort to temporarily halt executions in California died in the Legislature on Thursday when majority Democrats grew concerned that the issue could tag the party's candidates as soft on crime in the fall elections. The measure, which would have created a moratorium while a special commission studied the fairness of California's death penalty, had received a good deal of attention during the campaign last year to stop the execution of Stanley Tookie Williams. The co-founder of the Crips gang in Los Angeles died by lethal injection on Dec. 13 for committing four murders. Ron Cottingham, president of the Peace...