Board to review cases of teens sent to prison

Juvenile clemency panel may be first of its kind in U.S.

John C. Ensslin, Rocky Mountain News

Thursday, August 30, 2007

Gov. Bill Ritter has created a clemency advisory board to re-examine cases of juveniles sentenced as adults to the state prison system.

The seven-member panel is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation.

"We feel that it's an important thing for us to do," Ritter said Wednesday. "I think there are issues regarding juvenile justice that warrant a separate clemency board."

As Denver district attorney in 1993, Ritter helped lead the charge for changes in state law that made it easier for prosecutors to try juveniles as adults. Those laws, enacted by a special session of the state legislature, came in response to a surge in youth and gang violence in the so-called "Summer of Violence."

Ritter said Wednesday that his executive order creating the youth clemency panel does not represent a shift in his view of juvenile justice.

"It's still the governor's decision," he added, noting that the panel will make recommendations, but that he has the final say on any pardons or commutations of sentences.

Ritter's order follows a public policy debate over the last two years that intensified after a Rocky Mountain News series in which some advocates questioned the wisdom of locking up teenage murderers for life.

'A huge first step'

Mary Ellen Johnson, executive director of the Pendulum Foundation, has been pushing for a second look at many of the cases in which juveniles are serving life sentences for adult crimes. There are 46 inmates serving life sentences without parole in Colorado who committed their crimes as juveniles.

"It's been a long road, but to me this is a huge first step," Johnson said. As the title of her group suggests, Johnson said she believes the pendulum is swinging in a different direction on juvenile justice than in 1993.

Previously, clemency petitions for juveniles were heard by the same Executive Clemency Advisory Board that oversees adult cases.

Under the new order, the juvenile clemency board will meet at least twice a year to review cases.

The panel serves at the will of the governor. A decision to recommend clemency will require the votes of at least four panel members.

A Lochbuie man whose mother was murdered by two teenagers was skeptical of the new panel.

"If they do it right, that's fine, but just don't go in and give them clemency. The ones that committed outright murder, let them suffer," said Ira Castor, whose 76- year-old mother, Barbara Jane Castor, was murdered in November 1996. Kevin Blankenship and Antonio Farrell are serving life in prison without parole in her murder.

"They know what they've done. It was proven in court . . . No, they shouldn't have clemency," he added.

Adams County District Attorney Don Quick, however, said he is comfortable with the criteria that Ritter set for the panel and for the people he chose.

"I think it's going to be a thoughtful and informed process," said Quick, noting that the governor always has had the inherent power to grant clemency.

Expertise cited

Board member Jeanne Smith, a former El Paso County district attorney, said she sees the panel as a group with some expertise in the area of juvenile justice.

"I think what the governor is wanting to do is give more specific attention to the issues facing juveniles in the system," she said.

Smith said she does not know how many cases the panel will review in an average year, but noted that there are 209 juveniles currently in the state Youth Offender System who have been sentenced as adults.

Ritter spokesman Evan Dreyer said that if the existing clemency board is an indicator, the juvenile board may hear fewer than a dozen cases per year.

Dreyer said the panel is not expected to have much of a fiscal impact because it will be using existing Department of Corrections and Public Safety staff to carry out any clemency reviews.

As for being the first such panel in the nation, Dreyer said he is aware of no other state that has a clemency board that hears only cases of juveniles sentenced as adults.

Who's on the board?

Members of the Juvenile Clemency Board appointed by Gov. Bill Ritter:

• Jeanne Smith is director of the Division of Criminal Justice. Smith is a former district attorney for El Paso County. She also served as a deputy state attorney general. She will chair the Juvenile Clemency Board.

• Federico C. Alvarez served as a Denver County judge from 1987 to 1990 and as a Denver District Court judge from 1990 to 1999. He worked as senior attorney for Qwest Communications from 1999 to 2000. He is in private practice with Kelly, Garnsey, Hubbell and Lass.

• Jeaneene E. Miller is director of the Division of Adult Parole, the Youth Offender System and Community Corrections. She has overseen the Youth Offender System since May 2002. Miller, who has a master's degree in psychology, has more than 32 years of experience in corrections.

• Rick Murdie has been sheriff of Gunnison County since 1987. He worked as a Denver Parks police officer from 1970 to 1974 and then joined the Denver Police Department in 1974. A Gunnison native, he returned there to raise his family in 1982.

• John Nicolleti has been a police psychologist for more than 25 years. He and his wife, Lottie Flater, formed a private practice that specializes in the study of workplace violence and prevention. Their clients include United Airlines, U.S. Postal Service, NASA, Johns Manville and the Department of Energy.

• Randy James Saucedo is advocacy director for the Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence. He previously served as director of fatality review for Project Safeguard. He worked as a victim services counselor for the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and a victim services volunteer coordinator for Commerce City.

Richard M. Swanson has been director of Aurora Mental Health since February 2006. He previously served as director of the PSYLAW Institute and as deputy director of the Colorado Youth Offender System from 1994-1998. He is also a visiting professor in the psychology department at Metropolitan State College of Denver and a member of the Pendulum Foundation board.

ensslinj@RockyMountainNews.comor 303-954-5291

• March 16, 2008

  7:02 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  lovernofghter writes:

  IF ANY ONE CAN HELP WITH ANY INFO. FOR ME.
  MY BROTHER WAS SENTENCED 22YRS IN STATE PRISON FOR ARMED ROBBERY. HE WAS ONLY 16 AT THE TIME. HE HAS NOW BEEN IN PRISON FOR 6YRS.
  PLEASE HELP ME WITH ANY INFO OF WHAT I CAN DO TO HELP HIM GET OUT SOONER THAN 22YRS. HE IS FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE IN THERE EVERYDAY. MAY GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU.
  <3 ANN