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| Colo. Court Orders Life Sentences for Two Death Row Inmates |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 02/25/2003 |
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The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the death sentences for two men imposed by three-judge panels were unconstitutional, citing a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that juries, not judges, must determine if the death penalty is appropriate. The Colorado Supreme Court ordered George Woldt and Francisco Martinez Jr. to be re-sentenced to life in prison without parole. The decision follows a ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in June that held that juries, not judges, must determine whether the death penalty is appropriate. The court ruled in an Arizona case. Colorado lawmakers have since changed the law to require juries to handle sentencing in future capital cases. In its ruling Monday, the court said the 1995 law setting up the three-judge system was unconstitutional because judges made the factual findings necessary to justify a death penalty. During arguments in December, attorneys for the state had argued that juries in both cases had made the necessary findings for the death penalty. They asked that the sentences stand or that a new jury be impaneled for re-sentencing. Attorneys for Woldt and Martinez argued that the U.S. Supreme Court ruling required that their clients' sentences be overturned and that life sentences without parole be imposed. Attorney Jean Dubofsky, who represented Martinez, said she was not surprised by the ruling because the U.S. Supreme Court had hinted that Colorado's law was unconstitutional. She said state officials 'could have saved the state a lot of money if they had just conceded that the statute was unconstitutional and that the defendants sentenced under it were entitled to life in prison.' Woldt was convicted in the April 29, 1997, kidnapping, rape and assault of Jacine Gielinski, a college student in Colorado Springs. Martinez was convicted in the May 30, 1997, kidnapping, torture, rape and murder of 14-year-old Brandy Duvall in Commerce City. |
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