Bring Justice to Cold Cases
Thousands of family members of murder victims
and missing persons in Colorado suffer the
loss of loved ones and the horror that investigations
of these cases are sometimes halted prematurely.
Colorado House Bill 1274, which just passed
out of the appropriations committee, would
move money out of the death penalty unit
into the Colorado Bureau of Investigation
cold case unit. A prudent move. A timely
move.
I hope readers who give this matter
some thought will call or write your members
of the Colorado house and senate and our
Gov. Bill Ritter, urging them all to support
this legislation initiated by Louisville's
Paul Weissmann.
This 1274 legislation is
a win-win-win proposition because it prevents
wrongful execution, gives hope and perhaps
a measure of justice to victims' families,
and better spends taxpayer money. We all
wish for an end to violent crime, we seek
and expect justice, we long to comfort the
afflicted, and to do more good than harm
during our short lives. The cold case/death
penalty repeal legislation is law whose time
has come. Let's ensure that the crime laboratories
in our state have the best equipment and
personnel available so that we can all join
in fostering "prosecution not execution" in
our criminal justice system.
Ellen V. Moore
Amnesty International Colorado,
Nederland
(Ellen V. Moore also serves on the Board
of Directors for Coloradans Against the Death
Penalty)
This Letter to the Editor was published
April 11, 2009:
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2009/apr/11/11elet/
