Is it sinful to believe that capital punishment is okay?

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No. Not every juror can be excused, because then, that would only guarantee the death penalty if applicable. Besides that, I am sure there are defense attorneys who would love to have them on the jury, so it does not immediately rule them out.
 
Nothing guarantees the death penalty. But the state gets to ask potential jurors if they can impose whatever punishment is on the table. To sit in a capital jury is to say you could impose the penalty.
I’m no lawyer. My knowledge of the law is only educated by my cousin vinny and law and order episodes.
 
Unless you’re on a jury voting to put someone to death, or you’re the judge sentencing, or you’re the executioner throwing the switch, then simply having a “belief” that disagrees with a Church moral teaching on this, without more, is not necessarily a sin.

You should however closely examine why your thoughts on this deviate from Church teaching and maybe ask the Lord to help you understand better and to have more charity for your fellow man, including heinous criminals. God loves them too, he just hates the sinful things they do.

You also need to accept the fact that the Church teaches differently from your opinion and that’s just how it is.

It’s no different from Catholics who have opinions contrary to the Church on stuff like gay marriage or women priests.
 
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The Catholic Church found capital punishment justified until a few years ago. I wouldn’t believe that the Church, and Catholics, advocated sin through its history until a few year ago.
That is, Through almost the entirety of its history, the Church wouldn’t have said capital punishment sinful, but found it justified in some cases.
I think it okay for some Catholics to say it is wrong now–but not that Catholics who say differently are speaking sinfully in this matter.
 
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We might consider consulting Pope St. Pius V… Or Pope St. John Paul II… Or Pope Benedict XVI… Or… anyone else who has clearly taught the Catholic doctrine on this point. It is a datum from Scripture and natural law that capital punishment is in principle legitimate. It is left to further discussion about when, why, how, etc.

-K
 
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