Colorado History Shows Trend Toward Abolition
CU Death Penalty Expert Documents Pre-Furman
Colorado Executions
On April 9, 1859, John Stoefel was hanged for
committing the first murder ever recorded in
the new settlement of Denver. At the time, Denver
was part of Arapahoe County, Kansas Territory,
and had been settled for only six months. The
hanging occurred less than 48 hours after the
murder.
This execution was followed by 101 more before
the U.S. Supreme Court declared the death penalty
unconstitutional in their 1972 Furman v. Georgia
decision.
But, according to a new
study published in the
Summer 2003 University of Colorado Law Review,
our state's history shows an ambivalence toward
the death penalty and a general trend toward
abolition. The 125-page study, authored by CU
Sociology Professor Michael L. Radelet, is entitled "Capital
Punishment in Colorado: 1859-1972."
Of the 102 executions, all were men, and all
were executed for the crime of murder. Nearly
one-quarter were members of racial or ethnic
minorities (nearly one-third if including Irish
and Italian immigrants). Eighty-nine percent
were convicted of killing whites.
According to Radelet, it's highly probable that
at least one innocent person has been executed
in Colorado, since at least four cases rested
on questionable evidence.
The most controversial was probably the 1939
execution of Joe Arridy, who was said to have
had the mind of a five or six-year-old child.
Arridy confessed to the murder of a Pueblo woman
and was arrested, even though authorities had
already arrested another man, in whose possession
the weapon had been found.
Several attempts at death penalty reform and
even outright abolition are part of Colorado's
history. In 1889, public executions were banned,
as were all executions in 1897. In 1901, the
death penalty was reinstated.
The 1930s saw attempts at making executions
more "humane," as hangings were replaced
with the gas chamber. In 1933, the state senate,
but not the house, voted to again abolish all
executions. In 1955 and 1957, abolition bills
garnered strong support, but not enough to pass.
By the 1960s, executions had lost favor enough
for the legislature to place an anti-death penalty
referendum on the 1966 ballot. It failed to pass.
In the mid-70s, Colorado reinstated the death
penalty, and in recent years, changed the method
to lethal injection. Since 1972, only one person
has been executed.
