Citizens to Gather to Support a Life Sentence For Donta Page -- And Abolish the Death Penalty in Colorado
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Coloradans Against the Death Penalty (CADP) is holding a vigil on Friday, March 2, 2001 at 5:30 p.m. on the west steps of the Colorado State Capitol in Denver. On that day, three judges will begin deliberating the sentence of Donta Page. CADP supports a life sentence for Page, who is facing possible execution in Denver for the 1999 death of Peyton Tuthill.
Frustrated by the rarity of death sentences in Colorado, conservative legislators revised the sentencing scheme in capital cases in 1995. The new law gives three judges, rather than the jury that heard the case, the power to sentence an offender to death. Critics charge that judges, who face retention elections to keep their jobs, are subject to political pressures that increase the likelihood they will vote for death in a particular case.
Bud Welch, who lost his daughter in the Oklahoma City bombing, and others opposed to the death penalty will gather. In addition to Welch, speakers include Vern Rempel, pastor of the First Mennonite Church in Denver and Bob Pepin, president of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar. Other speakers will be announced as they are confirmed.
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