We the members
of Unit 1012: The VFFDP, want you to remember the murder victims and hear from
their families and officials, who are against abolition of the death penalty.
In this case it is Rhonda Fields:
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It was deeply
distressing and disturbing for me to watch my daughter tell her story while
testifying in opposition of # SB100 to repeal the death
penalty. My beloved, I’ll take if from here, second readings on Thursday,
January 30th around 9:30 am. [PHOTO SHARED]
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‘I’ve Been Accused Of Not Loving My
Mother:’ Dozens Of Victims’ Family Members Debate Death Penalty Repeal At The
State Capitol
(Kevin J.
Beaty/Denverite)staff photo
By Andrew
Kenney
January 27,
2020
Colorado
Democrats have tried six times in recent years to repeal the death penalty.
Each attempt has involved hours of difficult testimony as lawmakers and the
public wrestle with the principles and practicalities of a lethal criminal
justice system.
This year,
the reformers expect to finally succeed. But a committee hearing on Monday —
the bill’s first — showed that the process will again be deeply emotional, and
even divisive, especially for families bereaved by violent crime.
“My
brother was murdered. And many of you have heard that story many times,”
said Maisha Fields, daughter of Democratic Sen. Rhonda Fields, launching a
scathing critique of the repeal bill.
Fields’
brother, Javad Marshall-Fields, and his fiancee Vivian Wolfe were murdered in
2005 by two men who are now on death row. As her mother looked on, Fields said
the Democratic bill is “fighting for people who are guilty,” rather than the
victims.
The families
of murder victims are not a singular voice, though. The American Civil
Liberties Union of Colorado organized a letter from more than 60 bereaved
family members who want to see the death penalty abolished, including many who
spoke Monday.
“We’ve had
enough trauma, enough violence in our state, and we don’t need it anymore,”
said Sharletta Evans. Her 3-year-old son, Casson, was murdered in 1995.
Evans told
lawmakers that the multimillion dollar cost of a capital case would be better
spent on supportive services to address the root causes of violence. Other
victims’ relatives said that the death penalty would have taken away their
chance to get answers from murderers, or that it violated their Christian
faith.
“I’ve been
accused of not loving my mother because I’m opposed to the death penalty,” said
Victoria Baker-Willford, whose mother was brutally murdered. She choked up as
she explained that just as her mother’s life had value, so did the killer’s.
The current
proposal has attracted support from two Republican Senators, showing it may
succeed despite the opposition of Sen. Fields. Democrats currently only have a
one-vote advantage in the Senate and the vast majority of Republican
legislators are expected to oppose repeal.
The bill
advanced on a 3-2 party line vote in the Democrat-controlled committee. Beyond
the stories of grief and reckoning, the hours-long hearing returned to many of
the long-standing arguments about the death penalty.
Sen. Bob
Gardner, a Republican, staked out the idea that voters should be responsible for
the decision through a ballot measure. “This is such an
important issue. So much of it goes to the core of what we think is appropriate
for our government to do,” Gardner said.
District
Attorney George Brauchler, who has prosecuted several death penalty cases, most
notably of the Aurora theater shooter, said that voters generally want to keep
the death penalty, needling Democrats for the 2016 failure of a repeal
initiative in liberal California. He was backed in that call by Jim Gumm,
father of murdered Adams County Deputy Heath Gumm.
Public
opinion has shifted nationally, with support for the death penalty falling from
80 percent in 1995 to 56 percent in 2019, according to Gallup. Moreover, most
people surveyed now say they prefer life without parole over death as the
punishment for the most severe crimes.
Denver
District Attorney Beth McCann -- who opposes capital punishment -- argued that
the question isn’t approriate for the ballot, saying that it goes to
constitutional questions of equal protection.
People of
color were the defendants in 91% of the state’s capital prosecutions from 1999
to 2010, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Nationwide, more than
150 people have been exonerated and released from death row.
Three men
await a death sentence in Colorado, all of whom are black. Supporters of the
death penalty argued that all three are clearly guilty, while critics pointed
to countless similarly horrifying cases that didn't result in a capital
sentence.
Then there
was the question of deterrence and costs.
Sen. John
Cooke, a Republican former sheriff, argued that the punishment can still sway
people from committing heinous crimes, but others in criminal justice said that
most people don’t consider punishments when they’re driven to kill.
Cooke and
others suggested that the death penalty can be a useful tool -- or threat --
for prosecutors as they try to strike a plea bargain. Brauchler and other
district attorneys denied using the death penalty to gain leverage, but said
its mere existence drove defendants to offer up deals on their own.
“Without the
leverage, the entire judicial system would be bogged down,” said Dave Young, a
DA representing Adams and Broomfield counties.
McCann
responded that the threat of death was so severe that it could unbalance the
system.
“It’s a
sledgehammer,” she said.
Previous
bills have failed on doubts from influential Democratic legislators, including
hints of a veto from former governor John Hickenlooper in 2013. Sen. Fields’
opposition, and anger over how quickly the bill was moved through the process,
ended an attempt at repeal last year.
Colorado prosecutors divide over death
penalty repeal
Joey Bunch, Colorado Politics Jan 27, 2020
The potential for repealing Colorado's death
penalties attracted arguments Monday from Colorado prosecutors — on opposing
sides of the issue.
Denver District Attorney Beth McCann spoke in favor
of repeal, while fellow prosecutors George Brauchler of Douglas and Arapahoe
counts, Dave Young of Adams County, Dan May of El Paso County and Clifford
Riedel of Larimer County argued against the repeal.
"It is a moral issue for me," said
McCann, a former Democratic state legislator. "I do not believe that the
state should be in the business of killing people."
The Senate Judiciary Committee heard six hours of
testimony on Senate Bill 100 Monday afternoon, before voting 3-2 along party
lines to move the bill to the Senate floor.
That's still a long way from the governor's desk
for legislation that's fallen apart six times at the statehouse since 2007, and
the proposals has been discussed six other years.
This year's bill, however, has bipartisan support,
though it is still opposed by state Sen. Rhonda Fields, an influential, if not
revered, legislator from Aurora.
Among the lawyers, academics, advocates and civil
libertarians was a strong religious element to Monday's testimony.
Bishop Jorge Rodriguez, the archbishop fo the
Diocese of Denver, reminded the committee why Catholics oppose the death
penalty.
"Even those who committed
horrible crimes and are in prison are not outside of Christ’s mercy," he told the committee. "In
fact, he counts them as his 'least brothers.' The Catholic Church has long
taught that every person, whether they are unborn, sick, or sinful, has a
God-given dignity that cannot be erased or taken away. Yes, it can be marred,
but it cannot be blotted out in the eyes of God."
Of the three men on Colorado's death row, two have
direct ties to Fields, whose son, Javad Marshall Fields, and his fiancee,
Vivian Wolfe, were killed in a shooting in 2005, before he was scheduled to
testify as a witness against gang members. Sir Mario Owens and Robert Ray are
awaiting their death sentence.
The pending legislation would not cover them, and
apply to sentencing after July 1. Gov. Jared Polis has said he's ready to sign
a death penalty repeal if the legislature can deliver him a bill, and Brauchler
predicted he would commute the sentences of the three on death row, as well.
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Surrounded by family and friends, Rhonda
Fields, center left, and Christine Wolfe, center right, the mothers of Javad
Marshall-Fields and Vivian Wolfe, approach the site where the couple was gunned
down June 20, 2005, at the corner of East Idaho Place and Dayton Street, during
a candlelight vigil Thursday, July 21, 2005. The shooting led to the death
penalty conviction of Robert Ray and Sir Mario Owens. Rhonda Fields is now a
state senator. (AP Photo/Aurora Sentinel and Daily Sun, Patrick Kelley)
|
Maisha Fields, the daughter of the senator and the
sister of Javad Marshall Fields, testified against the repeal.
She said activists rounded up supporters of the
repeal, and that senators had decided how to vote before the hearing.
"This is a sad day for Colorado and
for victims," Maisha
Fields said.
She said the senators "get to decide
what justice looks like for a grieving mother."
McCann said the argument that capital punishment is
a deterrent doesn't hold up. McCann said the shooter in the Aurora theater massacre
and other deadly assaults were not deterred by the potential of a death
sentence.
"These cases take way too long and drain way
too many resources," McCann said.
Under question from Sen. John Cooke, a Republican
from Greeley and a former Weld County sheriff, she conceded that the potential
of a death sentence can be used in plea deals.
Riedel said murder cases that normally might be
pleaded out will instead go to trial.
"Every first-degree murder case will
go to trial," he said.
"There will be no savings."
Young talked about "free murders,"
because once someone gets a life sentence for murder, the circumstances won't
matter, including how many more people are involved or whether it's a child, a
judge or a witness, referring to Fields' son.
Brauchler added, "What
do you do? Send them to their cell with no Jello? No movie on Friday
night?"
While other prosecutors said the matter should be
decided by voters, McCann said it should be handled by the legislature. The
ballot can be swayed by big-dollar donors and campaigns, she said.
"You are in a better position to have a calm
and thoughtful discussion, like we're having today," McCann said.
Sen. Bob Gardner, a Republican from Colorado
Springs, said politics play a role in the statehouse, as well.
"The constituency that elected me
overwhelmingly supports the death penalty, and I was elected because I agree
with my constituency," he said.
Gardner made a failed motion to put the question on
the November ballot.
"We either trust the people of Colorado to do
what they think, in their best judgment, is right, or we don't," Gardner
said.
Sen. Pete Lee, a Democrat from Colorado Springs who
chairs the Judiciary Committee, said he felt there is no doubt the death
penalty violates the Eighth Amendments prohibition on cruel and unusual
punishment.
"It's certainly cruel," he said of
capital punishment. "What could be more cruel?"
Fields was not available for comment coming off the
floor of the Senate or at her office Monday morning.
A collection of loved ones of crime victims
supported the bill.
"Grief and trauma have wreaked havoc on my
body and my soul," Sharletta Evans of Aurora said at the Capitol Monday.
Her 3-year-old son was killed in a drive-by shooting in 1995. Two gang members
got life in prison, and the driver, who was 16 years old, got a 10-year
sentence for cooperating.
His brother, Calvin, was at his side, and Monday morning
he was at his mother's side at the Capitol as she urged lawmakers to invest the
millions they spend on prosecuting death penalty cases to instead use that
money on prevention programs, especially related to gang violence.
"The death penalty in Colorado is a
stain on our history," Evans
said. "As one of the country's trendsetters, here
in Colorado our reputation has suffered under the weight of it. We should focus
our energy on the lives and the hope and the character of our young people and
address the root causes of violence, rather than pouring our resources into a
system that only comes at the end, when it's too late to distract us from our
values of life."
Lieutenant Hollis said his niece, Faye Johnson, was
22 years old when she was was killed in Aurora by Vincent Groves in 1988 .
Groves is believed to be Colorado's most prolific serial killer, taking the
lives of 24 women between 1979 and 1988. He died in prison in 1996.
His niece left behind three daughters who received
no help from the courts, while her killer became a cared-for celebrity behind
bars.
Each time his name came up, through court
proceedings or in the media, it kept the emotional wounds "fresh and
festered," Hollis said.
Death penalty cases costs millions in the court and
jail systems, plus decades to carry out. Since the death penalty was restored
at the federal level in 1976, Colorado has carried out just one execution —
Gary Lee Davis in 1997 for the 1986 kidnapping and rape of a neighbor, before
he shot her to death.
Gail Vanderjagt Rice spoke on behalf of her
brother, the late Bruce Vanderjagt, a Denver police officer who was murdered by
a burglar armed with an automatic rifle in 1997. The alleged shooter, Matthaeus
Jaehnig, was found dead three hours later from a self-inflicted gunshot wound
using Vanderjagt's service revolver he had apparently taken.
Rice had already been doing volunteer work in jails
and prison and already opposed the death penalty, she said. It was a question
of faith. She believes in restorative justice, an opportunity for atonement.
"I think that's God's plan for
justice," she
said. "The reason that I oppose the death
penalty the most, among many reasons, is it violates my Christian faith."
Colorado lawmakers, mostly Democrats but some
Republicans, are taking another legislative run at repealing the state's death
penalty.
The legislation is sponsored by Republican Sen.
Jack Tate of Centennial is sponsoring the bill with three Democrats: Sen. Julie
Gonzales of Denver and Reps. Jeni Arndt of Fort Collins and Adrienne Benavidez
of Adams County.
Letters:
Respect voters on death penalty; More examples of the need for personal
responsibility; more responses (1/31/20)
Respect
voters on death penalty
Re: “There is
no room for the death penalty in Colorado,” Jan. 26 commentary
While I will
not argue the pros and cons of the death penalty, what I do find disturbing is
that legislators Julie Gonzales and Jack Tate appear to be forcing their
personal views onto the electorate.
A 2015
Quinnipiac poll found two-thirds of Coloradans favor keeping the death penalty.
This issue is something that should be decided by the voters, not the
legislature.
I would
suggest the legislature needs to focus its efforts on something of more
importance, like the road woes, which directly impact all Coloradans. Let the
voters decide on the contentious issues such as repealing the death penalty,
which most directly impacts the three people on death row in our state.
Mike Conkey,
Thornton
Editor’s
note: A bill to repeal the death penalty advanced in the state Senate on
Thursday.
…. ….
Following
Emotional Testimony, Senate Appears Set to Approve Death Penalty Repeal
Conor
McCormick-Cavanagh | January 31, 2020 | 7:37am
Following
decades of work by abolitionists, politicians and family members of murder
victims, the death penalty in Colorado appears to be on its way out.
On Thursday,
January 30, a majority of the Colorado Senate voted for a death penalty repeal
bill; the chamber will vote today on a third reading of the bill. After that,
it will go over to the House, which is expected to pass the legislation, and
then on to the desk of Governor Jared Polis for his signature.
"So long
as the death penalty remains on the books, we will fail to rise to our duties
of office," Senator Angela Williams, a Denver Democrat and one of the
bill's sponsors, said at the January 30 Senate hearing.
Republican
senators, together with Democrat Senator Rhonda Fields, argued against repeal.
"I
oppose the repeal of the death penalty because it’s hard for us to project what
the next crime is going to be like, but we’re already telegraphing the same
penalty for every single crime. That is not justice,"
said Fields, whose son and his fiancée were killed by two of the three men
currently on death row. "We are inspiring the next
mass shooter if we take away this option for prosecutors."
Fields was
successful last year in preventing a death penalty repeal bill from moving
through the legislature. The Aurora senator argued that the rollout of the bill
was rushed and that she and other family members of victims weren't notified
about the repeal effort soon enough.
Following her
lead, a handful of Democrats declined to support the legislation. Although the
2019 bill made it out of committee, sponsors weren't sure if they'd have enough
votes in the Senate and decided to table it until 2020.
The 2020
bill, which is the sixth repeal bill since 2007, added two more Republican
sponsors. Senator Jessie Danielson of Wheat Ridge, who did not publicly say
whether she supported the bill last year, voted against repeal this time
around.
"This is
a terrible thing to have to consider. There is no good vote here,"
Danielson said.
As the Senate
hearing unfolded, Representative Dave Williams, a Republican from El Paso
County, said he might try to stop the bill from moving through the House.
"I
will debate. I will filibuster. I will have the bills read at length. This sham
of a process will not stand. House Democrats better pray that this bill does
not reach the House," Williams wrote to Westword in a statement.
But
Representative Adrienne Benavidez, a Democrat and one of the prime sponsors in
the House, says she's "pretty certain" the votes are there for the
bill's passage in that chamber. Benavidez says Williams's filibuster would
"just makes for a longer time on the floor."
The three men
on death row in Colorado, which hasn't executed anyone since 1997, will not be
directly affected by this bill, as it only deals with those charged from July
2020 onward.
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In an
interview with Colorado Public Radio last year, Governor Polis strongly
indicated that he would grant the three men clemency.
“If the
state, Republicans and Democrats, were to say, and I were to sign, a bill that
said we no longer have the death penalty in Colorado … I would certainly take
that as a strong indication that those who are currently on death row should
have their sentences commuted to life in prison,” Polis told CPR's Ryan Warner.
But the
governor has since softened that initial stance.
"There
are currently no clemency requests involving the death penalty before the
Governor. All clemency requests are weighty decisions that the Governor will
judge on their individual merits. If the legislature repeals the death penalty,
that is one of many factors he would consider along with all of the facts
surrounding the case," Conor Cahill, a spokesperson for the governor,
writes to Westword in a statement.
Colorado Senate tentatively OKs death penalty
repeal, despite Aurora rep’s emotional pleas
By
JAMES ANDERSON Associated Press –
By
JAMES ANDERSON Associated Press –
January 31, 2020
DENVER | State Sen. Rhonda Fields stood at the
Colorado Senate lectern Thursday, defiant and angry as she assailed a seventh
attempt in recent years to repeal the death penalty — one that could finally
pass this year in the state Legislature.
She was unsuccessful in her effort to stop a bill
that passed 19-15 on second reading in the state Senate on Thursday. A floor
vote schedule for tomorrow is considered a formality. Both the state House and
Gov. Jared Polis have indicated support for the measure.
It has been Fields, an Aurora Democrat, and many
Republican lawmakers who have stymied past efforts, keeping Colorado’s
little-used capital punishment statute on the books.
“The first word that comes into my mind is,
‘Really?’, Fields began after co-sponsors Julie Gonzales, a Democrat, and
Republican Jack Tate presented the newest bill on the Senate floor.
“Will you please help the people of
Colorado understand your motive and rationale for abolishing the death penalty
when the people of Colorado don’t want to?” Fields said.
She and other opponents cited recent polling
suggesting most Coloradans support the penalty — and she urged lawmakers to let
voters decide the issue.
After hours of debate, the Senate tentatively
approved the bill. A second vote is needed to send it to the House, where
Democratic leaders say its prospects are favorable.
For Fields, the stakes are personal.
Her son, Javad Marshall-Fields, and his fiancée,
Vivian Wolfe, were murdered while driving on an Aurora street in 2005. Robert
Ray and Sir Mario Owens were sentenced to die for the killings.
The third person on Colorado’s death row is Nathan
Dunlap, convicted of the brutal shooting deaths of four people inside an Aurora
Chuck E. Cheese restaurant in 1993.
In 2013, then-Gov. John Hickenlooper, now a
Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, indefinitely delayed Dunlap’s execution.
Hickenlooper has since come out saying he opposes the death penalty.
On Thursday, the Democrat-controlled Senate engaged
in a familiar, if ever-painful, debate over morality, faith, deterrence,
discrimination against defendants of color and wrongful convictions.
Some cited the fact that Colorado’s last execution
came in 1997 — and before that, in 1967. Gary Lee Davis died by lethal
injection for the 1986 kidnapping, rape and murder of a neighbor, Virginia May.
“This idea that murdering is wrong except when the
state does it strikes me as untenable,” said Gonzales, who sponsored similar
legislation last year.
“I don’t support the state having the power over
life and death under any circumstance,” Tate declared, calling his stand a
philosophical one. “The value of capital punishment has seen to present itself
as possibly one of the most tragic set of false expectations I’ve run across.”
Sen. John Cooke, the assistant minority leader and
a former Weld County sheriff, and other GOP senators argued that the death
penalty has induced countless defendants to seek plea deals to solve or close
cases.
The bill would apply to offenses charged on and
after July 1, and Gonzales made a point of saying that would leave Ray, Owens
and Dunlap on death row.
Fields countered that Democratic Gov. Jared Polis
supports the bill and has suggested he would commute death sentences for the
three.
New Hampshire repealed capital punishment last
year, becoming the 21st U.S. state to do so.
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| From left: Vivian Wolfe and Javad Marshall Fields. (Provided by Sen. Rhonda Fields) |
OTHER LINKS:
Colorado's best-known supporter of capital
punishment waiting to address death penalty repeal bill
JAVAD MARSHALL FIELDS (JANUARY 29, 1983
TO JUNE 20, 2005)
FIELDS WOLFE MEMORIAL FUND [IN LOVING
MEMORY OF JAVAD JAY MARSHALL FIELDS & VIVIAN WOLFE (BOTH DIED ON JUNE 20,
2005)]
COLORADO DEATH PENALTY MUST STAY!