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| Colo. Inmate Gets Death for Killing Officer |
| By Rocky Mountain News |
| Published: 03/03/2003 |
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Edward Montour Jr. became the newest member of Colorado's death row Thursday when he was sentenced for killing a young corrections officer last year. Montour, 36, who represented himself in court, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder for the fatal bludgeoning of Sgt. Eric Autobee, 23, with a heavy industrial soup ladle in the kitchen of the Limon Correctional Facility. 'A man reaps what he sows,' Douglas County District Court Judge Paul King told Montour. 'You have sown death and death you shall reap.' Autobee's extended family, which had packed the courtroom, let out a gasp when King pronounced the sentence. After the hearing, the victim's father, mother and 21-year-old brother, Scott, cried and hugged family, friends, prosecutors and court officials. 'Justice will not be served until that man's heart stops beating,' Eric's father, Robert Autobee, said. 'He laughed through the whole thing. He makes Charles Manson look like an altar boy.' But Robert Autobee said he is afraid there is no guarantee that Montour will be executed. Two men were removed from Colorado's death row earlier this week after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled they were unfairly sentenced by judges instead of a jury. Montour's sentence is not affected by that ruling because he pleaded guilty to the charge and waived his right to have his fate decided by a jury. He is now one of four people sentenced to death in Colorado. King set the execution for the week of June 15, but it will be automatically stayed pending Colorado Supreme Court review. Before King read his long written decision, Montour made a statement in open court. 'I could still walk away from this,' he said. 'Or I could willingly die and not be concerned with the death penalty. I choose the latter.' Chief prosecutor John Topolnicki said that statement was just another act of passive defiance from Montour. 'I took it to mean, 'I could beat you people legally if I wanted to,' ' Topolnicki said. 'He believes he can only be put to death if he chooses death. It is his perverted way of saying he is in control of his own fate.' Gov. Bill Owens issued a statement saying he believed King made the appropriate decision. 'Anything less than the death penalty would have meant the admitted killer literally would have gotten away with murder,' Owens said. 'The killer himself blatantly said he 'didn't have anything to lose' since he was already serving a life sentence without parole. He has shown the ultimate in depraved behavior with absolutely no remorse.' |
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