April 29, 2009 11:17 PM UTC

Death Penalty Abolition Debate Underway In Senate Committee

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: AP correction, bill is in fact in the State, Veterans & Military Affairs Committee today–not Judiciary as they previously reported.

The Denver Post reports the latest status on House Bill 1274, the death penalty repeal, which is garnering increasing national attention as it, um, refuses to die:

A proposal to eliminate the death penalty is being considered in the Colorado Senate…

The bill would take the money now being used to prosecute death penalty cases, about $1 million a year, and use it to investigate cold cases instead.

The bill passed out of the House by a single vote at the urging of families of crime victims.

If it passes the Senate, the bill will then go to Gov. Bill Ritter, Denver’s former district attorney.

Ritter hasn’t said whether he’ll sign it.

The latest word we have is that Governor Bill Ritter, a former prosecutor, intends to veto the bill if it reaches his desk–but interestingly, those sources have become a little more equivocal in the last few days. Liberal and criminal-justice reform activist groups are pushing very hard on legislators for this bill–we’re told this has been by far the #1 voice mail and email from constituents the last week–watch for that pressure to shift to Governor Ritter personally if the bill passes. It won’t surprise us in the least if he does veto the bill, but we wouldn’t put the more surprising possibility past him. He’s a conscientious man, after all, not to mention a politician with a base that needs pleasing.