Colorado and the Ring Decision
Thoughtful discussion needed on cost, morality, and injustice
-- By Jim Castle, President of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar (CCDB)
Today, the United States Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling that struck down judge sentencing in death penalty cases. In Colorado that means that our current death penalty statute is unconstitutional and 3 men currently on Colorado's death row will soon be off death row. In addition, there are 165 prisoners on death row in the four other states that have judicial sentencing (Idaho, Montana, Nebraska and Arizona.) that may be entitled to a life sentence. In states with hybrid sentencing (jury recommendations with judge sentencing) there are 529 prisoners who also may be entitled to a commutation of their death sentence to a life sentence.
Last week the Supreme Court also found it unconstitutional to execute the mentally retarded. Recently Illinois and Maryland suspended the death penalty when they found that many innocent individuals were on death row. On May 6, 2002 the 101st innocent person sentenced to death was allowed to walk free from prison since Gregg v. Georgia found the death penalty to be constitutional in 1976. It is unknown how many of the 782 prisoners that have now been executed nationally since 1976 were innocent or had lawyers who were incompetent.
In Colorado our legislature in the past 26 years has enacted unconstitutional death penalty statutes on three separate occasions all in a desire to seek more and more death verdicts. In 1976 the Colorado legislature enacted a death penalty statute which was found to be unconstitutional 2 years later in 1978. In 1988 the legislature enacted a statute that was similarly stricken three years later. Now, our current legislative enactment was stricken 7 years after becoming law. In the 26 years since Gregg v. Georgia, our legislature has enacted death penalty statutes that have been found to be unconstitutional in 12 of the 26 years. In all, one man has been executed and two others will remain on death row after the Ring case is applied.
The cost of this great "experiment" with the death penalty is unfathomable. The cost of the death penalty has been found to be $2.16 million over the cost of a non-death penalty sentence of life imprisonment. On a national basis these figures translate to over $1 billion dollars spent since 1976 on the death penalty. In Colorado it is estimated that approximately 50 million dollars has been spent in seeking the death penalty against Colorado prisoners in the last 26 years. That amounts to nearly $17 million for each of the two remaining death sentences and one execution in Colorado.
There are many of us who are philosophically and morally opposed to the death penalty. Many of us are not accepting of the racial discrepancies in the pattern that death sentences are sought. Others do not believe our precious tax dollars should be used seeking the death penalty when we cannot adequately fund education or crime prevention or victims compensation programs. Collectively, we are not a small minority and may even be the current majority.
It is anticipated that our legislature will soon attempt to enact yet another death penalty statute. Before such a process is underway it may be wise to engage in an open debate about whether we, as citizens of Colorado, given the costs and the moral issues, actually wish to have a death penalty in Colorado. If there ever has been a time in recent memory where it would be prudent to engage in a thoughtful discussion now would seem to be it.
Official position statement of the CCDB from June 24, 2002, reposted with permission.
Contact: Jim Castle (303) 675-0500
