Press Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: Denise Madden-Darnell
President, Coloradans Against the Death Penalty (CADP)
(303) 698-5804
(303) 521-9040, Mobile
Randy Canney
President-elect, Coloradans Against the Death Penalty
(303) 388-5014
(303) 355-3771, after 5:00 p.m.
CADP Hails Court Ruling Which Renders Colorado Death Penalty Law Unconstitutional
June 24, 2002 -- Colorado's law requiring a panel of judges -- instead of citizen jurors -- to hand down death penalty sentences was rendered unconstitutional today by the U.S. Supreme court. This landmark decision comes just days after the court banned the executions of the mentally retarded.
As many as 150 American death row inmates will be given new sentencing hearings as a result of the court's findings because their sentencings now violate the sixth amendment.
"This is one of the most hopeful weeks for anti-death penalty proponents in recent memory," said Denise Madden, president of Coloradans Against the Death Penalty. "Through these two decisions, the court is finally acknowledging the nation's waning support for capital punishment, and the inconsistent way by which it is administered. Judges are elected or politically appointed officials: judgment in matters regarding who lives and who dies simply must not be politically motivated or career driven."
The ruling on the case of Ring v. Arizona will affect five states' death penalty sentencing laws. Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Nebraska must now allow citizen jurors to decide who is put to death and who is not. According to Madden, this is an important step in eliminating the death penalty since jurors are significantly less likely to issue death penalty sentences.
"As the court's ruling on the killing of the mentally retarded suggests," Madden said, "the public's consensus of decency has changed. The court is virtually acting as a conduit of the public consensus, and that consensus is clear: execution is a government sanctioned act of violence that is inhumane and has been ineffective in reducing capital crime."
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Coloradans Against the Death Penalty's mission is to abolish the death penalty. The organization's supporters include religious leaders, politicians, lawyers, and family members of murder victims who say about the death penalty, "Not in my name."
