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News
Colorado News Archive from 2005
- Archive
of Colorado News
See all CADP News links and excerpts
from the years 2000 | 2001 | 2002
| 2003 | 2004.
- About
Broken Links
- CADP
Movie: Fighting for Life in the Death
Belt
Coloradans Against the Death Penalty
and Amnesty International invite you
to join us in honoring Stephen Bright
and the Southern Center for Human Rights
at the Colorado premiere of "Fighting
for Life in the Death Belt," narrated
by Ani DiFranco. Panel discussion and
reception with Stephen Bright and filmmakers
Adam Elend and Jeff Marks will follow
the film on November 17, 2005.
(11/5/05, CADP) - Capital
Punishment in Colorado
Colorado Department of Corrections Web site.
Includes capital punishment history, current
death row roster and photos, location of death
row and execution room, security, activities,
inmate uniforms, death row tenure, incarceration
costs, execution day, other facts, and state
archives.
- Colorado's
Death Row
CADP's information and links about prisoners
now on Colorado's death row.
- Colorado's
Death Row Appeals and Pending Capital Cases
Information on clients, lawyers, places, and
dates.
- Colorado
General Assembly
News stories and links from the 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 Colorado legislative sessions.
- Colorado
High Court Gets Two Capital Cases
The last two death penalty cases tried
under the state's old law went before
the Colorado Supreme Court on Monday.
The cases are the only ones that involve
defendants - Abraham Hagos and Randy
Canister - who hadn't been sentenced
when the U.S. Supreme Court declared
that death sentences must be decided
by juries, not judges. (2/1/05, Rocky
Mountain News) - Colorado
Supreme Court Hearing Cases from Old
Law
DENVER -- Attorneys for two men still
awaiting sentencing on murder convictions
in 2002 are preparing for a court hearing
next week that will clear the books of
the last remaining death penalty cases
thrown into confusion by the U.S. Supreme
Court. The Colorado Supreme Court has
scheduled arguments Monday in the cases
of Abraham Hagos, 29, and Randy Canister,
28. They were convicted before the Legislature
met in July 2002 to conform state law
with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that
said only juries - not judges - can sentence
a criminal to death. ... Attorney David
Lane, a death penalty expert and opponent,
said he had no doubt that Canister and Hagos
would be ruled ineligible for the death penalty
because of the timing of their cases. "The
statute that they went to trial under
said if any part of it is unconstitutional,
it's life (in prison)," he said. "This
almost borders on a frivolous appeal
on the part of the state." (1/29/05,
The Daily Camera)
- Former
Illinois Governor and Exonerated Death
Row Inmate Visited Colorado in September
Coloradans
had the opportunity to hear about the
death penalty from two unique
and very different perspectives - that
of a man whose controversial decision
spared the lives of 167 death row inmates,
and that of a man who spent 17 years
on death row for a crime he didn’t
commit. CADP was pleased to sponsor the
Colorado appearances of Juan
Melendez, the 99th innocent person
to be freed from death row since 1973.
Juan Melendez and Mike Radelet were also
scheduled as guests on DCTV's "Speaking
Out" with Rich Andrews. The week
before, former Illinois Governor Ryan
and the filmmakers introduced the
film, Deadline,
which was followed by a panel discussion.
The film was shown in Denver and Boulder.
(10/1/04, CADP)
- From
Death Row to a Life Devoted to Family,
Normalcy
Sylvester Lee Garrison
had 14 dates with death and three "last
meals" during
more than 11 years awaiting execution
for a 1958 murder he insisted he didn't
commit. Fate gave him a 47-year reprieve.
Garrison died eight days ago, just shy
of his 73rd birthday ... When the Supreme
Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional
in 1972, his sentence was reduced to
life in prison and later commuted to
43 years by Gov. Dick Lamm. After serving
nearly 20 years of that sentence, Garrison
was paroled in April 1978 - just as Colorado
reinstated capital punishment. ... Out
of prison, Garrison lived a life remarkable
only for its relative normalcy. He
worked for the city and county of Denver
as a maintenance man until the late
1990s, married and divorced, discharged
his parole and played checkers and dominoes
with friends when he wasn't enjoying
family gatherings. For many years, he
lived with his mother in her northeast
Denver house. Known as "Uncle Brother," he
became the pillar of his family, preaching
the value of thrift and education. He
counseled younger family members, kept
them off the streets, chipped in toward
their college educations or the down
payments on their first homes. (6/5/05,
The Denver Post)
- Garcia-Gomez,
Raul: Return of Suspect Could Take Up
to A Year - Because Mexico Won't Turn
Over Suspect Who Faces Execution
Denver officials said Saturday night
they want the suspect in the killing
of police Detective Donald Young tried
in Denver. But the task of bringing him
from Mexico to Denver could involve months
of delicate negotiations with Mexican
authorities, Denver District Attorney
Mitch Morrissey warned. ... One key problem
is that Mexico does not return fugitives
captured in Mexico if U.S. prosecutors plan
to seek the death penalty or if the suspect
faces life in prison without chance of parole.
Despite that, Morrissey said he intends
to get Raul Garcia-Gomez, 20, "back
here as soon as possible." ... Morrissey
said there is a possibility that Young's
alleged killer could be tried in Mexico.
Mexico does have a death-penalty law
but hasn't executed anyone since 1937.
(6/5/05, The Denver Post)
- Harlan,
Robert: Won't Be Executed
Convicted murderer Robert
Harlan will die in prison instead
of by injection as a result of a decision
Monday by the U.S. Supreme Court, which
declined to hear arguments in the Adams
County case. ... The decision, announced
on the Supreme Court's first day back
in session, means Harlan's case will
be sent back to the trial court, where
he will automatically be sentenced
to life in prison without parole. (10/4/05,
Rocky Mountain News)
- Harlan,
Robert: Supreme Court Review Sought in
Harlan Case
Adams County District Attorney Don Quick
asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday
to review the case of convicted murderer
Robert
Harlan, whose death sentence was
overturned because jurors consulted a
Bible in the deliberations room. ...
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled 3-2
in March that the death sentence imposed
on Harlan by the jury was unconstitutional
because of the Bible consultations. The
state's high court said Harlan had to
be sentenced instead to life in prison.
... The U.S. Supreme Court is in summer
recess and will not decide whether to
review the Harlan case until after it
reconvenes in October, Quick said. (7/16/05,
Rocky Mountain News)
- Prison
Museum Displays Artifacts of Colorado
Death Penalty
CAÑON CITY - Even with her eyes
shut, Betty B. Gibson can tell if she's
anywhere near the old gas chamber. "The
odor is still there. I can smell it: cyanide
balls and sulfuric acid," said the
80-year-old Gibson, who as a warden's niece
grew up here watching condemned men shuffle
up the hill to the chamber where they would
meet their end. ... As a child, she said,
she'd hide and peek at the death-row inmates
as they made their final walk up that hill. "I
used to watch these poor men walk that
last mile," she said. Those were the
days Gibson knew she should avoid her uncle. "He
was always very upset the whole time," she
said. "You stayed away from him." (12/26/05,
Colorado Springs Gazette)
- Two
Spared in Ruling on 2002 Sentencing
Law
The Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday
that two convicted murderers awaiting
sentencing cannot be executed. The court
said Abe Hagos, 29, and Randy Canister,
28, had been unconstitutionally singled
out by the state legislature after the
U.S. Supreme Court had effectively ruled
invalid Colorado's death-penalty sentencing
system. (4/19/05, The Denver Post) - Supreme
Court of the United States
Visit the CADP Web page with Supreme Court
news stories
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