A Colorado legislative committee sunk a bill that sought to abolish the death penalty, a week after Gov. John Hickenlooper expressed concerns that Coloradans were not ready to do away with capital punishment, according to the Denver Post.
Until Hickenlooper voiced opposition at a House Democratic caucus luncheon, the bill's sponsors said they had the votes to pass the measure out of committee and through both chambers, and ultimately deliver it to the governor's desk.
"I think had the governor not signaled so strongly he wouldn't sign the bill, I think we would have had those votes," Rep. Claire Levy, D-Boulder told the Post. Claire along with Rep. Jovan Melton, D-Aurora, sponsored the measure. "We would have repealed the death penalty in Colorado, and I think we could all stand up proud and strong and know that we did the right thing."
Hickenlooper reluctance may have been a response to the murder of the state's secretary of corrections.
To read more: http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_22874746/house-committee-take-up-death-penalty-repeal-bill#ixzz2P1zw6FGN
1 comment:
It had nothing to do with the governor.
The testimiony at the bill hearings were devastating to the death penalty repeal advocates, both in rebuttal to the normal deceptions of the anti death penalty folks and in the strength of the pro death penalty testimony, inclusive of powerful testimony of individual cases that ended up on death row.
The chair decided to suspend the vote until later, because of how powerful that testimony was, long before any comments by the governor. The repeal was dead that night.
Truth and justice prevailed, That's what happended.
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