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Colorado Legislature 2000
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- The Battle Over the Death Penalty Will Be Renewed
Old
issues still swirl as legislators gather. ... Sen. Dottie
Wham, R-Denver, wants to take it out of the hands of a
three-judge panel -- a system that began in 1995 -- and
return it to a panel of 12 jurors. Death penalty advocates
like Ray Powers want a single judge to make the decision.
(1/00, Denver Rocky Mountain News)
- SB 28: Committee Gives Tentative Approval to Return Death Decisions to Jury
Jurors would get back the responsibility for making death penalty decisions under a bill that got tentative approval from a Senate committee today. Sen. Dottie Wham, R-Denver, asked the committee to return to the jury system to decide cases of life and death, saying a jury of peers better represents the community. (2/09/00, The Denver Post)
- SB 28: Death-Penalty Phase May Go Back to Juries
Senate panel backs removing decision from 3-judge panel (2/10/00, Denver Rocky Mountain News)
- HB 1234: House Approves Sentencing, Death Penalty Crackdown
The death penalty could be sought in a wider variety of cases ... Representatives tentatively approved House Bill 1234 to allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for people who kill with weapons they cannot legally possess. The bill adds felony possession of the murder weapon to the list of 14 aggravating factors that a prosecutor considers when deciding whether to seek the death penalty. (2/16/00, The Daily Camera)
- HB 1299: House Backs Death Penalty Bill
The presiding judge in a capital murder trial would have the power to impose life or death sentences under a proposal that won support in the Colorado House of Representatives Wednesday. House Bill 1299, sponsored by Aurora Republican Rep. Gary McPherson, would replace the state's three-judge panels in death-penalty cases with the trial judge ... Critics argue that bill supporters simply want more people executed. (2/17/00, The Denver Post)
- HB 1299 and SB 28: Bill Shifting the Power to the Trial Judge
The decision of whether convicted killers should live or die will not be returned to Colorado juries, but a bill shifting the power to the trial judge is still alive in the legislature. Shortly after the Senate voted 18-15 Monday to kill [SB 28] that would have restored the power to juries in capital punishment cases, the House on a 33-32 vote approved HB 1299, which lets a presiding judge make the decision. Colorado law now requires that a three-judge panel decide whether a person convicted of first-degree murder should be executed. (2/22/00, Denver Rocky Mountain News)
- HB 1299 and SB 28: Judges to Have Final Say in Death Penalty Cases
Senate kills bill that would have given juries final decision (2/22/00, The Daily Camera)
- HB 1299 and SB 28: Senators Reject Return to Death-Penalty Juries
Eighteen senators on Monday killed a plan that would have returned the sentencing decision to juries in death-penalty cases, while a proposal to give the decision to the trial judge - and abandon Colorado's three-judge system - squeaked through the House of Representatives and was sent to the Senate. "I'm very concerned about this," Sen. Dottie Wham, R-Denver, said after the Senate voted 18-15 to defeat Senate Bill 28, which would have made juries the final arbiters in death cases. "I think the people need to be heard on this issue." (2/22/00, The Denver Post)
- HB 1299: Bill Sent to Senate Calls for Trial Judge to Make Decision on Sentence
The decision to impose the death penalty in Colorado should rest with the trial judge instead of the current three-judge panel, a Senate committee said Wednesday. ...HB 1299 was sent to the full Senate on a 5-3 party-line vote in the Senate State Affairs Committee. A bill that would have restored the death penalty decision to jurors was defeated earlier this year on the Senate floor. ...Sen. Pat Pascoe, D-Denver, a death penalty opponent, said the bill appeared to be little more than an attempt to expand the number of people on death row. Denver attorney Maureen Cain said the Colorado Bar Association, the Criminal Defense Bar, the Colorado Trial Lawyers and other attorney groups opposed the change. She noted that 12 states have no death penalty. (3/16/00, Denver Rocky Mountain News)
- HB 1299: Senate Says Panel Should Decide Death Penalty
Three-judge panels should continue to decide death penalty cases in Colorado rather than letting a single judge determine when a convicted killer should die, the state Senate decided Friday. Lawmakers, who earlier this year refused to restore the death penalty decision to 12-member jury panels, voted Friday not to give the sole authority to a presiding judge either. That means the state will continue to use its present system: The decision will be up to a three-judge panel consisting of the presiding judge in the trial and two other judges appointed after a killer is convicted of first-degree murder. The Senate bill was killed on an 16-18 vote with five Republicans joining 13 Democrats in opposition. Sen. Jim Dyer, D-Durango, was the only Democrat to support the bill. Twenty-nine of the 38 states that have the death penalty leave the decision to juries. Four states -- Nebraska, Montana, Arizona and Idaho -- leave the decision to a single judge. In four other states, judges make the decision after receiving a jury's recommendation. Colorado is the only state with a three-judge panel. (3/25/00, Denver Rocky Mountain News)
- HB 1299 and HB 1234: CO Senate Kills Death Penalty Proposal
The Senate killed a bill Friday that would have given death penalty decisions to the trial judge, despite the objections of the Senate president who said he wanted to send a message on a pending [Woldt] case. Sen. Ray Powers, R-Colorado Springs, said the current three-judge panels are not working because judges from outside the district who do not have to answer to local voters can impose their personal views on death penalty cases. ... But Sen. Dottie Wham, R-Denver, said House Bill 1299 would put too much power in the hands of a single person. "Is one judge a trial by your peers?" Wham asked. ... Powers asked senators to "keep the heat on" for the Woldt panel, but senators killed the bill on a 16-18 vote. ... The Senate also gave final approval to House Bill 1234, expanding aggravating factors to be considered in death penalty cases, following debate over whether the state was risking having the death penalty thrown out of court by piling on too many factors favoring death. The bill passed 26-7 and now goes to the governor. (3/25/00, The Daily Camera)
- HB 1234: Concerning Expansion of Aggravating Factors For Imposition of the Death Penalty [Note: Governor Owens signed HB 1234 into law 4/11/00.]
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