May 05, 2009 12:24 AM UTC

Death Penalty Repeal Gutted In Drive-By Amending

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Death penalty bill reportedly stripped of, um, death penalty–will fund cold case unit only instead, developing. (English: death penalty repeal just killed)

UPDATE #2: Colorado Springs Gazette confirming:

A bill to repeal the death penalty in Colorado fizzled on Monday when the state Senate gutted the measure.

The bill would have taken at least $1 million that the state would save by ending capital prosecutions and transferred it to the state’s cold-case homicide unit. Family members of murder victims whose cases were unsolved advocated for the bill

But an amendment offered by Sens. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, and Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, took the death penalty repeal off the table while funding cold-case investigations through a $2.50 surcharge on booking fees paid by felony suspects and distributed to the cold-case units of local law enforcement agencies.

UPDATE #3: Denver Post:

House Bill 1274, as approved by the House, would have repealed the death penalty as a sentencing option and used the money saved by not prosecuting and appealing such cases – estimated to be at least $1 million a year – to fund the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s cold-case unit.

But a new version of the bill, drafted today just 15 minutes before the Senate was slated to vote on the original version, would charge people convicted of crimes a $2.50 fee and give that cash to local jurisdictions to pay detectives overtime to work unsolved homicides. The death penalty would remain in place. It passed with the support of five Democrats and the Republican caucus.

The drastic change must still survive a potential challenge later tonight, a third reading by the Senate and win approval from the House.

Democrat Sen. Morgan Carroll, sponsor of the original version, called the move “an ambush.”

“Some people are looking for ways to avoid voting on the core issue,” said Carroll, who spoke passionately about ending the death penalty. “This is a totally different bill that’s not had a public hearing. It’s gamesmanship that makes a mess of public policy.”

Original post after the jump.

AP reports:

The Colorado Senate was preparing Monday to take an initial vote on a proposal to eliminate the death penalty.

House Bill 1274 would take the $1 million now being spent to prosecute death penalty cases each year and use it to investigate cold cases instead.

The bill passed the House by a single vote and another close vote was expected in the Senate.

Backers weren’t sure if they had enough support to pass it because a handful of Democrats had not committed either way. Lately, backers have concentrated mostly on the votes of Democrats because only one GOP lawmaker voted for the measure in the House.

Colorado has executed only one person in the past 42 years, Gary Lee Davis in 1997. Two men are currently on the state’s death row but the bill wouldn’t change their sentences.

Gov. Bill Ritter, a former Denver district attorney, hasn’t publicly said whether he would sign the bill if it passes.

As district attorney, the Democrat unsuccessfully sought the death penalty seven times. Before becoming DA he expressed personal doubts about capital punishment.