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News
Colorado News Archive from 2007
- Archive
of Colorado News
See all CADP News links and excerpts
from the years 2000 | 2001 | 2002
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2005 | 2006.
- About
Broken Links
- 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 | 2005 | 2006 |
2007 Colorado
legislative sessions.
- Executions
Drop in 2007 as States Rethink Death
Penalty
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A day after New Jersey
banned executions, newly released figures
show that capital punishment dropped this
year to a 13-year low.
Forty-two people have been put to death
this year, according to the Death Penalty
Information Center (DPIC), a Washington-based
group that opposes the practice. That figure
is down 57 percent from what it was in 1999,
when 98 inmates were executed. ... Similar
bills in Nebraska, New Mexico and Montana
failed this year in the legislature. State
lawmakers in Maryland, Colorado, North Carolina,
Tennessee and California are also considering
abolishing the death penalty, but no bills
have been introduced. (12/18/07, CNN.com)
- CU
Opera Presents Regional Premiere of
Heggie's "Dead Man Walking"
CU Opera
stages Jake Heggie's "Dead
Man Walking" at 7:30 p.m. Friday
and Saturday and 2 p.m. Oct. 28 at Macky
Auditorium on CU campus. "There
are nine productions on stage this season
- that brings the total (number of companies
that have staged the opera) to 50," says
the composer, who will be in Boulder
for public discussions of "Dead
Man Walking," based on the Pulitzer
Prize-nominated book by Sister Helen
Prejean. Prejean also will take part
in several concurrent events during the
coming week. The book, Prejean's account
of her work with prisoners on death row,
led first to the popular 1996 film starring
Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. The opera
has brought renewed passion to the ongoing
debate on capital punishment. (10/21/07,
The Camera)
- Death
Penalty Sought in Dragging Case, Despite
Mental Retardation
District Attorney Carol Chambers said Tuesday
her office will seek the death penalty
against a Glendale man accused of dragging
his girlfriend behind his car, despite
defense attorneys' claims that the suspect
is mentally retarded. Jose Luis Rubi-Nava
is charged with first-degree murder and
second-degree kidnapping in the September
2006 death of Luz Maria Franco Fierros.
(10/3/07, Rocky Mountain News)
- Death
Penalty Sought in Colorado Springs
Cop Killing
Marco Lee, accused in the killing of
a Colorado Springs police officer during
a drunken-driving traffic stop late last
year, will be on trial for his life.
As required by Colorado law, 4th Judicial
District Attorney John Newsome filed
a notice Friday with the court of his
intent to seek the death penalty if Marco
Lee is convicted of first-degree murder.
(8/15/07, Colorado Springs Gazette)
- Colorado Juries Reluctant to Impose the
Death Penalty
Death penalties are difficult
to obtain in Colorado, even for particularly
cruel or violent crimes where there's
no doubt who the killer is. ... Colorado
Springs defense attorney Ann Kaufman, who
successfully defended Anthony Jimenez against
the death penalty for the 2000 killing
of Jennifer Baker, said once jurors find
out more about the defendant they see a
flawed human rather than a monster. "When
they're presented information about
the accused in the penalty phase, they
understand virtually everyone who gets
to a place where they’ve taken a
life has had a lifetime of abuse and had
a horrible life themselves," Kaufman
said. "When they're the one
who has to make a decision, mercy and humanity
comes into play." Kaufman said death
penalty cases take much longer than other
cases because, by law, there’s a
"heightened due process when you take someone’s
life." (8/15/07,
Colorado Springs Gazette)
- Denver
Post Reports on Lost Evidence and Wrongful
Convictions
The Denver Post has featured more than
a dozen news articles and a series of online
videos, providing an in-depth look
at the handling of crucial biological
evidence gathered during criminal investigations. "Trashing
the Truth: The Hidden Story of Lost Evidence" examined
the nationwide problems with evidence
storage, the destruction of evidence,
and the relationship between missing
evidence and wrongful convictions. It
also addressed how this issue impacts
victims and victims' family members who
are waiting for answers in unsolved crimes.
(7/30/07, DPIC Update)
- National
Weekend of Faith in Action on the Death
Penalty
The National Weekend of Faith in Action
(NWFA) is an opportunity for faith communities,
interfaith groups, human rights activists,
and others to examine the death penalty
from a faith-based or values-based perspective.
Set aside some time during the weekend
of October 19-21 for an activity or event
that focuses on the death penalty issue,
using the ideas and resources provided
by Amnesty International USA as your
guide. Learn
more. (Amnesty International)
- Old
Execution Stirs New Interest
Advocates for the developmentally disabled
unveil a granite monument to replace
the marker on the grave of Joe Arridy.
Arridy was 23 when he was sent to the
gas chamber in 1939 for the murder of
Pueblo teenager Dorothy Drain. His advocates
believe he was innocent - just mentally
retarded and the victim of a child-like
willingness to tell police what he thought
they wanted to hear. A lawyer is working
on a posthumous appeal. Developmentally
disabled people routinely say 'yes' to authority
figures," said
Craig Severa, advocacy specialist for
the Arc of the Pikes Peak Region. "They
are extremely vulnerable to abuse and
exploitation." (6/2/07, Rocky Mountain
News)
- Tombstone
to Dignify Wrongly-Executed Coloradan
On Saturday, June 2, 2007, at 11 a.m.
in Canon City's Greenwood Cemetery, a
dignifying tombstone will be placed on
the grave of death row inmate Joe Arridy.
Arridy was executed in the Canon City
prison gas chamber on January 6, 1939,
and buried on top of Woodpecker Hill.
Joe Arridy had the mind of a five year
old and was innocent of the crime for
which he was executed. The tombstone,
which will feature an etching of a replica
of Joe's toy train, is being placed and dedicated
by a number of citizens in the Pikes Peak
Region who have taken a newfound interest
in Arridy's life and death. Evidence uncovered
in the past decade indicates that he
was a victim of police and prosecutorial
misconduct. This is the first time in
the history of Colorado that a tombstone
will be placed on the grave of an executed
prisoner. Read
full story PDF. (5/31/07, CADP)
- High
Court Tosses Killer's Death Penalty
A
death sentence against an inmate who
killed a prison employee is not valid
because a jury didn't decide his fate,
the Colorado Supreme Court has ruled.
The state's high court did, however,
uphold the first-degree murder conviction
of Edward
Montour Jr. for the October
2002 bludgeoning death of Eric Autobee,
a 23-year-old kitchen supervisor at the
Limon Correctional Facility. Montour
pleaded guilty to the death of Autobee,
and in doing so "automatically waived
his right to have a jury determine his
sentence" under the state's death
penalty statute, the Supreme Court found
in a ruling posted today. ... The court's
decision reverses the death sentence
and remands the case back to "the
trial court for a jury determination
of whether to impose the sentence of
life imprisonment or death." The
ruling leaves convicted murderer Nathan
Dunlap as the only person currently on
Death Row in Colorado, Lane said. Dunlap
murdered four people at a pizza parlor
in Aurora in 1993. (4/23/07, The Denver
Post)
- "Dead
Man Walking" Returns to Denver
Victorian Playhouse
The Denver
Victorian Playhouse is once again
presenting "Dead
Man Walking," this year from
April 20 to June 3, 2007. Based on
the movie written and directed by Tim
Robbins that he adapted from the nonfiction
book by Sister Helen Prejean, "Dead
Man Walking" is the story of Sister
Prejean's experience as the spiritual
advisor to Matt Poncelet, a convicted
rapist/murderer on death row. With
no doubt of Poncelet's involvement
in the crime for which he is scheduled
to die, Sister Prejean is faced with
the moral and spiritual crises of offering
comfort and support to the most detestable
human being she has ever met. Yet as
a servant of God, how can she refuse?
(4/23/07, CADP)
- State Kills Bill to Cut Number of Death-Penalty
Prosecutors
State lawmakers killed a plan to slash
the number of prosecutors in the state's
death-penalty unit on Wednesday, despite
claims the money could be better used for
a cold-case unit to pursue the 1,200 unsolved
murders in Colorado. Rep. Paul Weissmann,
D-Louisville, said the state could save millions
of dollars yearly that is spent prosecuting
and defending death penalty cases. He said
the money could be better spent catching
criminals still walking the streets. Weissmann
said there are only two people on death row
in Colorado and it's not worth having a four-member
capital crimes unit. Weissmann tried to cut
the number in half, but the House killed
the bill (House Bill 1094). (4/19/07, Camera)
- "Backdoor"
Abolition Bill Progresses in House
Colorado would shift money from prosecuting
death-penalty cases to cracking unsolved
murders under a Louisville legislator's
bill that won initial House approval this
week. ... This year, as in years past,
Weissmann initially introduced the bill
to abolish the death penalty. He proposed
funding the cold-case unit from some of
the money that would be saved by not paying
for capital prosecutions and state public
defenders - an
estimated annual price tag of $4.5 million.
Lacking the votes or Gov. Bill Ritter's
support for outright repeal, Weissmann
offered an amendment that allowed capital
punishment, but cut the attorney general's
four-person capital crimes unit to two
- the number of inmates now on death row
in Colorado. (4/14/07, Camera)
- Denver University Holds 4th Annual
Death Penalty Awareness Week
All are welcome
at DU's 4th Annual Death Penalty Awareness
Week: April 2-5th. Lunchtime events are
being held from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. daily.
Or attend the cocktail party Thursday evening
at 7 p.m. - meet lawyers and activists
in the community who are opposed to the
death penalty. On April 4th, "The
Sacco and Vanzetti Case and the Political
Role of the Death Penalty in America" event is
being held at lunchtime. (4/3/07, CADP)
- Bill
Targets Cold Homicides, Repeals CO
Death Penalty
It's a natural combination
to some and an unacceptable compromise
to others. But a bill in the state
Legislature that would repeal the death
penalty and use the savings to help
solve cold-case homicides has brought
renewed attention to some 1,200 unsolved
killings in Colorado since 1970. About
40 of those cases have ties to Boulder
County. Rep. Paul Weissmann, D-Louisville,
is sponsoring the bill, which passed
the House Judiciary Committee in February
and is scheduled for a hearing by the
Appropriations Committee in the next
two weeks. Weissmann said he's "not
overly optimistic" about the bill's
passage, but he is convinced it's sound
public policy. "It's unfortunate,
but I think it's going to get bogged
down in political fear," he said. "The
reality is that we don't use the death
penalty in this state, but the political
reality is that people don't want to
be at all seen as being weak on crime." Colorado
has only executed one person since reinstating
the death penalty in 1976, and two inmates
are on the state's Death Row. A fiscal
analysis for Weissmann's bill estimates
that it costs the state about $770,000
annually in legal and administrative
expenses to have a death penalty on the
books. The bill would eliminate those
costs and increase appropriations to
the Colorado Bureau of Investigation
by $670,000 this fiscal year and $637,000
each year thereafter, paying for seven
new employees, improved forensics labs
and other resources to review evidence
in unsolved homicides. The measure is
both a bid to end capital punishment
in Colorado and a pragmatic attempt to
find money for a new program in a tight
budget year, Weissmann said. (3/10/07,
Camera)
- Family: Memories Matter Most
As an opponent
of the death penalty, Julie Chase can find
plenty to like in a bill that would end
capital punishment in Colorado and use
the savings to investigate unsolved killings.
But as the mother of a homicide victim,
she isn't sure any cold-case unit in the
Colorado Bureau of Investigation can bring
her comfort beyond the memories of her
daughter, Susannah Chase.
... "We oppose the death penalty, and
I think it's probably a good use of the money
that's saved," she said. "I just
don't know if it would be productive." (3/10/07,
Camera)
- House Committee Votes No Death Penalty
A House committee voted Wednesday to abolish
the death penalty and use the savings from
prosecuting and defending death penalty
cases to look at old unsolved cases after
witnesses said they wanted police to catch
the people who killed their loved ones.
Rep. Paul Weissmann, D-Louisville, said
the money spent defending and prosecuting
death penalty cases could be better used
to resolve 1,200 unsolved murders since
1970.
The House Judiciary Committee approved
the measure on a 7-4 vote and sent it
to the House Appropriations Committee.
(2/8/07, Camera)
- Colorado's
Death Penalty Would Be Scrapped Under
Bil
Lawmakers considered a unique proposal Wednesday that would do away with Colorado's
death penalty and would use money for capital punishment to solve cold case murders.The
state's death penalty is rarely handed down. Only two men are currently sitting
on Colorado's death row. Lawmakers estimated
the state could save about $2 million per year by not pursuing the death penalty.
One person has been executed in Colorado since 1967. (2/8/07, TheDenverChannel.com)
- Study
Finds Racial Disparities in Colorado's
Death Penalty
A new study examined all cases in which
the death penalty was sought in Colorado
over a 20-year period, from 1980 to 1999.
The study identified 110 death penalty
cases, and compared the race and gender
of the victims. The authors concluded
that the death penalty was most likely
to be sought for homicides with white
female victims. They also determined
that the probability of death being sought
was 4.2 times higher for those who killed
whites than for those who killed blacks.
(7/17/06, DPIC Update)
- Supreme
Court of the United States
Visit the CADP Web page with Supreme Court
news stories
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