On May 6, more than 20 for­mer judges and pros­e­cu­tors, reli­gious lead­ers, men­tal health experts, and many oth­ers called on Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (pic­tured) to com­mute Nathan Dunlap’s death sen­tence to life in prison with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole. The group’s state­ment cit­ed racial and geo­graph­ic dis­par­i­ties in the state’s appli­ca­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment as rea­sons why Dunlap should not be exe­cut­ed. Among those send­ing let­ters sup­port­ing clemen­cy were for­mer Colorado Supreme Court Justice Jean Dubofsky, for­mer Arapahoe County Deputy District Attorney Richard Bloch, Denver’s Catholic Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila, and Rev. Dr. Jim Ryan of the Colorado Council of Churches, which rep­re­sents over 850 mem­ber con­gre­ga­tions. Archbishop Desmond Tutu, win­ner of the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, also expressed sup­port for clemen­cy. A let­ter to the gov­er­nor signed by for­mer judges stat­ed, ​“We urge you to grant clemen­cy because the death penal­ty in Colorado is deeply flawed. These facts depict a sys­tem that acts in an arbi­trary fash­ion, based on fac­tors such as race and geog­ra­phy.” The group not­ed that all three of those on Colorado’s death row are African American, all from the same coun­ty, and all were under age 21 at the time of their crime.

When he was 19, Dunlap killed four peo­ple at a restau­rant that he had for­mer­ly worked at. He has apol­o­gized for his actions.

(Press Release, ​“Former Judges and Prosecutors, Faith Leaders, the NAACP, CO Latino Forum, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, Academics and Others Call on Governor Hickenlooper to Commute Nathan Dunlap’s Death Sentence to Life In Prison Without the Possibility of Parole,” May 6, 2013). See Clemency and New Voices.

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