{"id":28462,"date":"2024-03-29T02:07:18","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T02:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-voters-to-decide-whether-first-degree-murder-suspects-should-be-denied-bail\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T06:29:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:29:57","slug":"colorado-voters-to-decide-whether-first-degree-murder-suspects-should-be-denied-bail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/colorado-voters-to-decide-whether-first-degree-murder-suspects-should-be-denied-bail\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado voters to decide whether first-degree murder suspects should be denied bail"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Inmates
Inmates at the La Plata County Jail have been asked to practice social distancing, something that&#x2019;s difficult &#x2013; and near impossible &#x2013; in the confined pods and cells at the jail.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Colorado voters will decide in November whether to amend the state constitution to once again allow judges to prohibit people charged with first-degree murder from being released on bail from jail ahead of their trial.<\/p>\n

The Legislature placed the question on the ballot Thursday by passing House Concurrent Resolution 1002 after the measure cleared its final hurdle in the Senate by a 35-0 vote. It previously passed the House on a 59-5 vote. Resolutions placing a question on the ballot that would change the state constitution require the support of two-thirds of the members in each chamber to advance.<\/p>\n

The ballot measure will need the support of 55% of voters Nov. 5 to pass since it would amend the state constitution. The Colorado constitution can only be changed through a vote of the people.<\/p>\n

People charged with first-degree murder used to be denied bail in Colorado when a judge found that the proof was evident or the presumption was great that they committed the offense. But the state Supreme Court ruled last year that the Legislature\u2019s 2020 decision to repeal Colorado\u2019s death penalty meant that those defendants were eligible for pretrial release and that judges had to set their bail.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because the state constitution requires that bail be denied for people charged with capital offenses, which at the time the death penalty was repealed was only first-degree murder. Since the death penalty is no longer on the books in Colorado, the Colorado Supreme Court found that bail could no longer be denied for people charged with first-degree murder \u2013 no matter how heinous their alleged crimes.<\/p>\n

The ruling prompted judges to set bail at astronomical amounts \u2013 including $100 million in one instance \u2013 for first-degree murder suspects. But victims still worried that the Colorado Supreme Court ruling could jeopardize their safety, or at least their sense of security.<\/p>\n

House Concurrent Resolution 1002 would let judges once again deny bail to people charged with first-degree murder if they rule the proof is evident or the presumption is great that a defendant committed the offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen harrowing examples in Colorado of first-degree murder defendants posting bail and committing further violent crime before their court date,\u201d state Sen. Rhonda Fields, an Aurora Democrat and a lead sponsor of the bill, said in a written statement. \u201cMaking first-degree murder defendants ineligible for bail would give victims and their families peace of mind and help keep our communities safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fields\u2019 son, Javad, and his fiance, Vivian Wolfe, were fatally shot in 2005 and the two men responsible, Robert Ray and Sir Mario Owens, were convicted of murder in the killings and sentenced to death. However, their sentences were commuted to life in prison by Polis when he signed the bill repealing Colorado\u2019s death penalty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the least that we could do,\u201d Sen. Tom Sullivan, a Centennial Democrat whose son was murdered in the 2012 Aurora theater shooting. \u201cThis is by far the least we can do is to make sure that these killers do not have the ability to see the light of the day until their trial has been completely adjudicated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sullivan opposed the repeal of the death penalty.<\/p>\n

House Concurrent Resolution 1002 was being considered alongside House Bill 1225, which would make a corresponding change in state statute. That measure also passed the Senate on Thursday and now awaits Gov. Jared Polis\u2019 signature.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

measures requires support from 55% of voters to pass in November<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28463,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[233,266,28,1509],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-28462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coloradosun-com","tag-election","tag-headlines","tag-state-elections"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80425,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28462\/revisions\/80425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28463"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28462"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=28462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}