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| Colorado to Let Juries to Decide Death |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 07/15/2002 |
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State lawmakers approved a bill Thursday to bring Colorado law in line with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling by letting juries, rather than judges, decide whether a convicted killer should live or die. Gov. Bill Owens, who was expected to sign the measure, said relatives of victims need to know justice will be served. 'Time after time when we've done what we are convinced is constitutional we find that a court says it isn't,' Owens said. 'What I want to make sure we have is a constitutional death penalty statute, and I'm convinced that we have that at this point in time.' Owens called a special legislative session after the Supreme Court ruled last month that only juries can hand down a death sentence. 'If we're going to have a death penalty, we need to make sure there are no doubts about who should receive it. We need to make sure the death penalty is reserved for the worst of the worst and that's a decision for the jury,' Democratic Sen. Ken Gordon said Thursday. In Colorado and four other states - Arizona, Montana, Nebraska and Idaho - judges alone determine whether the death penalty is appropriate. The high court ruling threw into doubt death sentences handed out to 168 killers in those five states. Among them are three inmates in Colorado. Colorado would become the first of those five states to change its law to conform to the Supreme Court ruling. |
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