Denver District Attorney Beth McCann on Colorado’s Death-Penalty Repeal
Running time: (00:38:43)
Download12:01 The Death Penalty in Context
In the April 2020 episode of Discussions with DPIC, Denver District Attorney Beth McCann (pictured) speaks with Death Penalty Information Center Executive Director Robert Dunham about Colorado’s repeal of capital punishment. McCann was elected DA in 2016, as part of a nationwide wave of reform-oriented prosecutors. Both as prosecutor and in her eight years in the Colorado legislature, McCann has advocated for broad criminal justice reforms, including the abolition of the death penalty. In her discussion with Dunham, she describes the major societal shift away from capital punishment, Colorado’s efforts at abolition, and the role of prosecutors in shaping change.
Read the transcript here.
News Brief — Prosecutors Drop Death Penalty in Last Remaining Colorado Capital Prosecution

NEWS (4/13/20) — Colorado: Prosecutors in Colorado Springs have dropped the death penalty in their murder case against Marco Garcia-Bravo in the shooting death of two high school students, the last remaining capital prosecution in Colorado since the state abolished the death penalty on March 23. Parroting language used by Adams County prosecutors when they dropped the death penalty against Dreion Dearing on March 30 in the state’s other pending capital prosecution, 4th Judicial District Attorney Dan May blamed Governor Jared Polis for May’s decision, calling Polis a ”13th juror” who would block any death sentence ”with the stroke of the pen.”
On the same day that he signed the bill repealing Colorado’s death penalty, Polis also commuted the sentences of the three men on the state’s death row “to reflect what is now Colorado law.” The commutations, Polis said, “are consistent with the abolition of the death penalty in the State of Colorado, and consistent with the recognition that the death penalty cannot be, and never has been, administered equitably in the State of Colorado.”
Veteran Denver capital defense lawyer Phil Cherner said, “Tonight, for the first time that I can remember, Colorado has no one on death row, no death cases on appeal and none pending trial.” Despite capital prosecutions in several high-profile Colorado mass murder cases, no jury in the state has voted to impose the death penalty since June 2009.
Lance Benzel, Death penalty bid dropped in gang killings of Colorado Springs teens, Colorado Springs Gazette, April 13, 2020.
News Brief — Colorado House Votes to Abolish Death Penalty

NEWS (2/26/20): The Colorado legislature has sent to the Governor a bill that would prospectively abolish the state’s death penalty. On February 26, 2020, one day after a marathon 12-hour debate on the floor of the House, the Colorado House of Representatives voted 38 – 27 to pass SB 20 – 100 to repeal the state’s capital punishment statute. The Senate had previously approved the legislation on January 30.
Governor Jared Polis has ten days to sign the bill into law or to veto it. The Governor has previously indicated that will sign. Upon signing, Colorado would become the 22nd state to abolish capital punishment, and the tenth since 2004.
Colorado
Jan 31, 2020

Colorado, Virginia State Senates Move to Abolish, Reform Death Penalty
Colorado
Jan 31, 2020
