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Activists Call on President Biden to End the Federal Death Penalty Before Leaving Office

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A conversation with Death Penalty Action Co-founder and Executive Director Abe Bonowitz. Now that Joe Biden is a lame duck president, activists are holding him accountable to make good on his promise to end the federal death penalty during his remaining six months as president. Biden’s election campaign in 2020 had pledged to end the federal death penalty and incentivize the remaining 27 states that still allow executions to do the same. While he made history as the first president in the United States to openly oppose the death penalty, there has been no movement to actually end federal executions during his nearly four years in office.

Colorado: Hickenlooper's stance on death penalty did not cost him re-election

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Gov. John Hickenlooper
Gov. John Hickenlooper
November 10, 2014: The death penalty was a focal point of Colorado's gubernatorial race and though most Coloradans support the death penalty, Gov. John Hickenlooper's stance against it did not wind up costing him re-election. 

Hickenlooper granted an indefinite reprieve to death row inmate Nathan Dunlap last year. Dunlap was convicted in the 1993 Chuck E. Cheese massacre in Aurora.

Hickenlooper has said he has no plans to revisit his decision. But it raises questions about the impact on future death penalty cases, particularly the Aurora theater shooting case set to begin jury selection in January.

Retired political science professor Bob Loevy told KRDO NewsChannel 13 he does not believe Hickenlooper will impact the James Holmes trial because Hickenlooper only has one term left in office. "I think Gov. Hickenlooper will probably stay right where he wants to be on the death penalty," Loevy said. "That it will not be enforced while he is governor." 

Criminal defense attorney Josh Tolini agreed that Hickenlooper would likely not have an effect on Holmes' fate. Tolini said it generally takes three or four years to get through the trial phase of a typical death penalty case then another 10 to 15 years in appeals. 

Tolini also said that neither prosecutors nor the defense could argue Hickenlooper's stance against the penalty when making a case. "When you have a juror actually making the decision whether or not they're actually going to participate in killing somebody, it's been my experience that they take that very very seriously," Tolini said. "They would hopefully try. Now, is that humanly possible? Probably not. But I think for the most part they would try to do that."

Including Dunlap, Colorado has 3 inmates currently on death row. The state has executed just 1 inmate since 1997. 

Source: KRDO news, Nov. 10, 2014
Location: Colorado, USA
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