Bill to halve death penalty team rejected

Alan Gathright, Rocky Mountain News

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Democrats on Wednesday helped kill a colleague's bill to shift funding from state death penalty prosecutions to an effort aimed at solving cold-case murders.

Lawmakers defeated House Bill 1094 on 35-30 vote.

The measure would have cut in half the state attorney general's four-member death penalty prosecution team to free up $180,000 to fund a proposed cold- case unit to crack Colorado's 1,200 unsolved murders.

Republicans defeated the bill with 10 votes from Democrats, including House Speaker Andrew Romanoff, D-Denver.

Sponsor Rep. Paul Weissmann, D-Louisville, argued that public safety is poorly served by spending $4.5 million annually on capital punishment prosecutions and appeals when the state has executed only one inmate in 40 years.

"Cutting down the number of people in the capital crimes unit from four to two . . . won't have an impact on how many times the death penalty is actually carried through to execution," added Weissmann, noting that the unit once had eight members.

"But this bill does give an impact, it does make a difference to those families of the 1,200 unsolved homicides in this state," he added.

"It does create a chance for them to actually bring closure. It does bring the opportunity for them to find out who killed their loved one."

Yet, opponents such as Attorney General John Suthers and the state district attorneys' association lobbied hard against the bill, calling it a back-door bid to torpedo capital punishment.

"We need options for our society to deal with the most wicked among us," said Rep. Steve King, R-Grand Junction, a Mesa County sheriff's investigator.

"We have an obligation to those we represent to be the ones that draw the hard line when it comes to dealing with the Bundys, the McVeighs and the Dahmers," said King, referring to infamous killers and mass murderers.

Despite the bill's demise, the state may still create a one-investigator cold case unit under a separate bill.

House Bill 1272, sponsored by Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, and King, has passed the House and awaits Senate action.

In other action, the House voted 43-22 to approve Senate Bill 219, which limits private railroads from lawsuit damages if an accident occurs when future FasTracks commuter trains run on their tracks.

Supporters said if the bill did not shield Burlington Northern- Santa Fe railroad from possible punitive damages, the company would refuse to allow the Regional Transportation District to use its tracks for commuter rail service.

The bill requires RTD to buy liability insurance, and injured parties would still be able to sue for non-punitive awards up to $200 million for each accident under a federal law cap.

gathrighta@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5486