Denver’s Newly Elected District Attorney Says She Will Not Seek the Death Penalty

Newly-elect­ed Denver, Colorado District Attorney Beth McCann (pic­tured), sworn into office on January 10, 2017, has said that her admin­is­tra­tion will not seek the death penal­ty. Asked by 9News, Denver’s NBC affil­i­ate, whether Denver was ​“done with the death penal­ty,” McCann said: ​“We are under my admin­is­tra­tion. I don’t think that the state should be in the busi­ness of killing people.” 

McCann told 9News that alter­na­tive sen­tences pro­vide suf­fi­cient pun­ish­ment at a sub­stan­tial­ly less­er cost: ​“I believe that life with­out the pos­si­bil­i­ty of parole … gets to the pun­ish­ment piece, but does­n’t cost the tax­pay­ers those mil­lions and mil­lions of dol­lars that could be used to pros­e­cute other cases.” 

McCann also said she would sup­port repeal of the death penal­ty in Colorado. 

No Denver jury has sen­tenced a defen­dant to death since 1986 and, after a lengthy cap­i­tal tri­al, a jury in August 2015 sen­tenced Dexter Lewis to life for the stab­bing deaths of 5 peo­ple in a Denver bar. The state cur­rent­ly has a mora­to­ri­um on executions. 

McCann’s views are in line with those of many new dis­trict attor­neys across the coun­try. In the November 2016 elec­tions, vot­ers replaced pros­e­cu­tors who had aggres­sive­ly sought death sen­tences in Hillsborough County, Florida, Harris County, Texas, and Jefferson County, Alabama. In an August pri­ma­ry, vot­ers in Duval County, Florida, oust­ed Angela Corey, one of the nation’s most pro-death penalty prosecutors.