Whether the state of Colorado should be able to sentence people to die came to the forefront Tuesday afternoon as several dozen people crammed into a House committee room to testify on a bill to repeal the death penalty.
The measure, sponsored by Democratic Reps. Claire Levy of Boulder and Jovan Melton of Aurora, would repeal capital punishment in Colorado for offenses committed after July 1. House Bill 1264 is also co-sponsored by Rep. Kevin Priola, a Republican from Henderson.
Lawmakers attempted to repeal the death penalty in 2009, but the attempt failed by a single vote.
House Bill 1264 would not impact the three men already on Colorado's death row, or someone charged with a crime committed before the proposal became law. If passed, the death penalty would no longer be an option for prosecutors, just life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The last person the state put to death was Gary Davis in 1997.
A mixture of proponents — who donned purple ribbons — and opponents sat shoulder-to-shoulder on Tuesday in the House Judiciary Committee room to relay messages on capital punishment that lasted late into the evening.
"When someone you love is murdered, it just smashes your soul," said El Paso County resident, Amy Plapp, whose brother, Steve, was killed in a Texas apartment in 1993.
Prosecutors told Plapp at the time her brother's murder was not heinous enough to warrant the death penalty.
"It didn't matter because another death would have been more damage for our family, it would have just been several more years of heartache we couldn't take."
Plapp was among several victims' families, faith-based leaders and even an ex-death row inmate who testified Tuesday in favor of the repeal measure, noting racial disparities, costs and the emotional toll as factors as to why they're against the death penalty.
"You can release an innocent man from prison, but you cannot release him from the grave," said Randy Steidlin testimony before the committee. Steidl was on Illinois death row for 12 years before he was released from prison because a federal judge threw out his conviction because evidence was withheld in his trial.
Meanwhile, Maisha Pollard, whose brother, Javad, was killed in 2005, said repeal of the death penalty is not something that should be left up to state lawmakers.
"It's a decision that should be made by every victim, who has had to sit in court. It's a decision that should be for every mother who has had to bury a child," said Pollard, who is also the daughter of Rep. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora.
The debate over Colorado's death penalty is an issue that has Democratic lawmakers divided.
Fields on Monday introduced a measure to have voters decide in 2014 whether to repeal the death penalty, which will be heard in a House committee Wednesday.
"The citizens should weigh in on this," said Fields. "I don't personally believe this is up to lawmakers to decide."
Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler said the repeal of the death penalty makes it tougher to seek justice.
"Repeal of the death penalty makes it harder to find justice for the on the worst of the worst cases," Brauchler said. By April 1 his office must decide if it will seek the death penalty against James Holmes, the man charged with killing 12 people and wounding 70 others in an Aurora movie theater last July.
Rep. Bob Gardner, R-Colorado Springs, the ranking Republican on the judiciary committee, said he believes the repeal measure will pass through committee, but called it a "wrong-headed" decision.
"My problem is that the death penalty is simply appropriate," Gardner said. "For example, people serving life sentences who murder a corrections officer or a fellow prisoner, what do we do with those people? We have to have a deterrent for these people, and it's the death penalty."
Gardner notes that Colorado does not have a history of frequently imposing capital punishment.
"If we were in a state that does it frequently, then the criticism would be it's done excessively and we should repeal the death penalty. Since we're in a state where it's done infrequently the argument is 'well we don't do it much, so we should repeal it,' "Gardner said.
Since 2007, five states — Connecticut, Illinois, New Mexico, New York, and New Jersey — have repealed capital punishment, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.
And last week, legislators in Maryland voted to repeal the death penalty.
Source: The Denver Post, March 19, 2013