TOPEKA — A Kansas House committee has narrowly voted to keep the state’s death penalty law in place.

The Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee voted 7-6 on Friday to reject a bill to repeal the state’s 1994 capital punishment law. A bipartisan group of 33 lawmakers sponsored the measure.

The bill would have made life in prison with no chance for parole the possible punishment for murders that now qualify for lethal injection.

Kansas has 10 men on its death row but has not executed anyone under the 1994 law. The state’s last legal executions were by hanging in 1965.

Critics contend the death penalty is immoral and costly.

But committee Chairman Russ Jennings said his constituents support capital punishment. The Lakin Republican broke a 6-6 vote to sink the bill.