Death Penalty News

With a new governor and a Democratic-controlled House and Senate, legislators are set to propose a bill to abolish the death penalty in Colorado. Fort Collins Rep. Jeni Arndt, D-Fort Collins, said she's working on a bill in the state House to abolish the death penalty, with support from Democratic Rep. Adrienne Benavidez from Commerce City. Arndt, who will continue to represent Fort Collins House District 53 after putting her name in to fill Sen. John Kefalas' seat in the state Senate, said she can't speak to the bill's specifics yet, but the bill has been proposed several times in the General Assembly and failed, so she's trying again. For Arndt, her faith plays a factor in why she opposes the death penalty, but she also believes that the death penalty is discriminatory and unevenly applied based on race — pointing to the fact that all the inmates on Colorado's death row are black.  She said she remembers asking her mom at only 5 years old wh...

A Frederick, Colorado, man who pleaded guilty to murdering his pregnant wife and two daughters in August has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Christopher Watts’ sentence was handed down Monday after his parents and the family of his slain wife Shanann Watts made emotional statements before the court.  “I could objectively say this is perhaps the most inhumane and vicious crime that I have handled out of the thousands of cases I have seen,” Judge Marcelo Kopcow told the court. “Nothing less than a maximum sentence would be appropriate.” As part of a plea deal, Chris Watts pleaded guilty on Nov. 6 to three counts of murder for the deaths of his 34-year-old wife, who was 15 weeks’ pregnant, and their daughters Bella, 4, and Celeste, 3. He also pleaded guilty to two counts of murdering a child, one count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body. The plea deal saved him from faci...

Colorado jurors' distaste for capital punishment, cost, are considerations As the sentencing hearing for a Frederick man who pleaded guilty last week in the murders of his pregnant wife and children approaches, experts agree that Weld County District Attorney Michael Rourke made the right decision in not pursuing the death penalty in the case. Christopher Watts, 33, was accused of killing his pregnant wife, 34-year-old Shanann Watts, and 2 daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste. On Nov. 6, he pleaded guilty to 5 counts of 1st-degree murder, 3 counts of tampering with a deceased human body and unlawful termination of a pregnancy, as Shanann Watts was 15 weeks pregnant with a son. Her family said he would have been named Nico. Christopher Watts is scheduled to be sentenced Monday in Weld County District Court. RELATED :  Colorado: Chris Watts won't face the death penalty and the district attorney blames the governor By not pursuing the death pen...

WELD COUNTY, Colo. -- A plea deal will spare the life of Chris Watts but the Weld County district attorney took jabs at the governor as he explained the decision Tuesday. Watts pleaded guilty Tuesday to killing his pregnant wife, Shanann, and their two daughters this past August. Members of Shanann's family were in the courtroom when the plea was entered.  Watts pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, two counts of first-degree murder – victim under 12 in a position of trust, one count of first-degree unlawful termination of a pregnancy, and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body, according to Colorado court records and documents. Five of those counts made him eligible for the death penalty.  Weld County DA Michael Rourke said he spent time with Shanann's family at their home in North Carolina and during that time explained what a death penalty case could mean.  "So when the question was asked to me by their family, what is ...

District Attorney Michael Rourke has yet to make a decision as to whether to push for the death penalty in the case of Chris Watts, the 33-year-old Colorado man who stands accused of 3 counts of 1st-degree murder and 1 felony count of unlawful termination of a pregnancy. What's the background? Police charged Chris Watts with the felonies after his wife Shanann - who was 15 weeks pregnant with the couple's 3rd child - disappeared along with the couple's 3- and 4-year-old daughters. Shanann returned home to Frederick, Colorado, from a business trip in the early hours of Aug. 13. Upon her return, the couple reportedly held an emotional conversation about the status of their marriage. During the conversation, Chris Watts reportedly told his wife that he no longer wanted to be married. Local police performed a welfare check on Shanann and her young daughters after the 34-year-old mother didn't show up for a 1:30 p.m. doctor's appointment. Just 1 da...

GREELEY, Colo. - Frank Rzucek Sr. leaned forward in a Colorado courtroom, weeping with his face in his hands as his son-in-law, just feet away, was told Tuesday he could face the death penalty if convicted of killing Rzucek’s daughter and two granddaughters. Collecting himself, Rzucek glared as Christopher Watts was escorted back to jail. The brief hearing came a day after court documents revealed that Watts told police that it was Rzucek’s daughter, Shanann Watts, who strangled the kids after he told her he wanted to separate. Watts told police that he flew into a rage and strangled his wife, took the three bodies to a remote oil site north of Denver, buried Shanann in a shallow grave and dumped the girls’ bodies inside oil tanks. Rzucek’s silent angst dominated a routine court hearing in which Watts, wearing an orange jail suit and cuffed at the wrists and ankle, stoically answered, “Yes sir,” as District Judge Marcelo Kopcow told him of the possible punishments if...

Christopher Watts faces nine felony charges including first degree murder and unlawful termination of pregnancy GREELEY — Weld County prosecutors charged a 33-year-old Frederick man Monday with first-degree murder in the deaths of his pregnant wife and two preschool-aged daughters, whose bodies he allegedly put in a shallow grave and an oil tank, according to authorities and court documents. Christopher Watts was charged with nine counts in the deaths of his 34-year-old wife, Shanann, and two daughters, 4-year-old Bella and 3-year-old Celeste. The criminal charges include five counts of first-degree murder, one count of unlawful termination of pregnancy in the first degree and three counts of tampering with a deceased human body. During a 4 p.m. news conference, Shanann’s father, Frank Rzucek, spoke to the public and media, thanking law enforcement and the community for coming out to a Friday vigil commemorating his pregnant daughter and granddaughters. “Keep the...