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History of Capital Punishment in Colorado
Prior to 1890, executions were carried out in the courthouse yard of the county seat where the trial had been held. These trials were somewhat informal, without appeal or review procedures. It is not known exactly how many executions of this type were held. Often they were occasions for celebration and drinking.
The Tuskegee Institute Study lists 63 lynchings from 1882 to 1902 in Colorado. All but four of the victims were white. This is not because Blacks, Indians, and Hispanics were not lynched, but because when they were tortured and killed by a posse (often without any sort of trial), it did not get reported.
Because of this illegal procedure, the legislature passed a law in 1890 that executions had to be carried out at the state penitentiary in Canon City. The warden at that time, J.A. Lamping, objected strenuously, stating that he did ãnot relish this new sport.ä His job was not killing, but punishment and rehabilitation.
In 1897 the legislature abolished the death penalty. In 1901, the death penalty was restored, following three lynchings, one of which was by burning the perpetrator alive at the stake. Colorado is the only state known to have restored capital punishment in order to prevent lynchings. However, there was a lynching the next year (1902). There has always been a conflict in the United States between those who believe in the rule of law and those who believe that persons accused of a heinous crime do not deserve a trial with legal defense. That difference in opinion still exists today. The U.S. Constitution clearly requires legal defense. That difference in opinion still exists today. The U.S. Constitution clearly requires legal defense and trial, no matter what the crime was or how clear the evidence, as reported, appears to be.
Executions in Colorado by decades:
1890s 12 Earlier executions were by hanging at county seats.
1900s 7
1910s 4
1920s 7
1930s 26
1940s 12
1950s 3
1960s 3 These later executions were in the gas chamber.
1970s 0 The last, Luis Monge, in June 1967
1980s 0
1990s 1 By lethal injection, Gary Lee Davis, Oct. 13, 1997.
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Total = 78
In 1966, Colorado voters voted 2 to 1 to retain capital punishment. There were then seven capital offenses:
1. First degree murder (including dueling and abortion leading to death of the pregnant woman.)
2. Perjury in a capital case resulting in death of an innocent person, in which case death was mandatory.
3. Deadly armed assault by an escaping life term prisoner. Here also execution was mandatory.
4. Kidnapping for ransom when the victim is harmed.
5. Causing death by violent illegal entry to a mining site.
6. Causing death during criminal anarchy.
7. Second conviction for selling dangerous narcotics to a person under 25 years of age. The legislature had previously so defined marijuana as to include it as a dangerous narcotic. No one was ever executed under this law, but it was sometimes used to persuade the accused person to accept a plea bargain deal.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5 to 4 (in Furman v. Georgia) that many state death penalty laws were unconstitutional (including Coloradoâs). In 1974, a revised death penalty statute was submitted to the voters of Colorado and once again it was approved by a 2 to 1 margin. The number of capital offenses was reducted to: 1. First degree murder; 2. Kidnapping with death of the victim; 3. Felony murder. Persons determined to be mentally retarded are excluded from the death sentence. A separate second trial after a guilty verdict was to be held to determine whether the guilty person is to be executed, depending on an evaluation of mitigating and aggravating factors. Because jurors sometimes chose life imprisonment over execution this decision of punishment was recently transferred to a panel of three judges instead of the jury.
For information on the current prisoners on death row in
Canon
City,
see
Colorado
Death
Row.
For more information: http://www.essential.org/dpic/colorado.html
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